The Fan strategy
The Fan keeps La Belle Lucie's eighteen-fan deal, top-card moves, same-suit descending fan building, and Ace-up suit foundations. Its difference is that a King can enter an empty fan. There are no redeals, so a blocked layout must be rearranged with exposed cards.
Last updated: September 2026
Use a King to open a specific suit route
A King placed into an empty fan can receive the Queen of its own suit, then lower cards one at a time. Check that the matching Queen is accessible or can be exposed soon. A King is a single-card move: it does not carry a group into the empty fan.
A short position
Constructed position: a King of Hearts is a fan top and another fan is empty. Moving the King into that gap is legal; a Queen of Hearts can later land on it. A Queen of Clubs cannot. Moving the King may expose the next card in its original fan, but it also occupies the only open gap.
Choose between foundation and tableau access
When a top card can advance its suit foundation, check whether keeping it exposed as a same-suit landing place would release a buried card first. There is no automatic best order. The family guide explains the shared top-card and fan-access tradeoff; The Fan adds King-only gap use and removes its redeals.