Alexander the Great

Game Objective:

The primary objective of Alexander the Great Solitaire is to move all cards from the tableau to the foundation piles, building each foundation up in suit from Ace to King.

Setup & Layout:

• Deck: Uses a standard 52-card deck.
• Tableau: Deal the entire deck into seventeen fans of three cards each, with the remaining single card forming an eighteenth fan (a "fan" is a small pile of cards spread so that only the top card is accessible).
• Foundations: Four foundation piles, one for each suit, start empty.
• Card Orientation: All cards are dealt face-up and are fully visible from the start of the game.
• Key Play Areas:
• Tableau (Fans): Eighteen fans as described above.
• Foundations: Four piles, one per suit, built from Ace upward.
• No Stock, Reserve, or Cells are used in the standard ruleset.

Alexander the Great Solitaire Rules:

• Card Movement:
• Only the top card of each fan is available for play at any time.
• Foundations: Build up in suit, starting from Ace and proceeding to King (e.g., 2♦ on A♦, 3♦ on 2♦).
• Tableau: Build down in suit (e.g., 7♣ on 8♣), not by alternating color or any other method.
• Moving Cards:
• Cards may be moved from a fan to a foundation if they continue the sequence in suit.
• Cards may be moved from one fan to another if they form a descending sequence in the same suit.
• Only one card at a time may be moved; sequences cannot be moved as a unit.
• Empty Fans:
• When a fan becomes empty, it cannot be filled again—not even with a King.
• Redeals:
• When no further moves are possible, all tableau cards are collected, shuffled, and redealt into fans of three cards each (with any remainder forming a smaller fan).
• A maximum of two redeals is permitted per game.
• No Stock or Draw Pile: There is no stock or draw pile in this variant.

Gameplay:

• On each turn, the player may:
• Move any available Ace to a foundation pile.
• Move the top card of any fan to a foundation if it builds up in suit.
• Move the top card of any fan to another fan if it builds down in suit.
• Play continues until no more legal moves are possible.
• When blocked, the player gathers all tableau cards, shuffles them, and redeals into fans of three (with the last fan possibly containing fewer cards). This can be done twice per game.
• After the final redeal, if no further moves are possible, the game ends.

Winning & Losing Conditions:

• Winning Condition: The game is won when all cards have been moved to the foundations, completing each suit from Ace to King.
• Losing/Unwinnable Condition: The game is lost if, after two redeals, there are still cards remaining in the tableau and no further legal moves can be made.

Special Rules & Edge Cases:

• Empty Fans: Once a fan is emptied, it remains empty for the rest of the game; no card may be placed in an empty space.
• Blocked Cards: If a lower card of a suit is buried beneath a higher card of the same suit in a fan, and the higher card cannot be moved, the lower card is effectively blocked until a redeal.
• Kings: If a King is not on the bottom of a fan, it may block all cards beneath it until a redeal. There is no special rule allowing Kings to be moved to empty fans in the standard ruleset.
• Redeals: Only two redeals are allowed. After the second redeal, if the game is not won, play continues until no moves remain.
• No Sequence Moves: Only the top card of each fan is ever available for movement; you cannot move multiple cards together as a sequence.

Note: Alexander the Great Solitaire is a strict variant of La Belle Lucie, and is notably difficult to win due to its restrictions on filling empty fans and the limited number of redeals.