The Fan Solitaire
How to play The Fan
The Fan is a one-deck solitaire game dealt face up into eighteen fans, seventeen of three cards and one of a single card, built down by suit, where only a King can fill an empty fan.
Eighteen fans built down by suit, with only a King to fill an empty fan.
The goal of The Fan
Move every card onto the four foundations, building each one up by suit from Ace to King.
How to set up The Fan
The whole deck is dealt face up into seventeen fans of three cards, and the last card makes an eighteenth fan on its own. The four foundations start empty, and there are no free cells and no stock.
The Fan rules
Fans build down one rank at a time in the same suit. Only the top card of a fan moves, one card at a time, onto its foundation or onto a fan where it builds.
An empty fan can be filled only with a King. A card on a foundation never comes back into play.
Click a card to play it: to its foundation if it fits, otherwise onto a fan. Drag a card to choose where it goes yourself. With Autoplay off in Settings, only a drag moves a card.
How to win at The Fan
You win when all 52 cards are on the foundations. Once every fan is in descending order, Auto complete, on by default in Settings, moves the remaining cards up for you. The game is stuck when no card has a legal move left.
The Fan strategy tips
Builds go down in suit only, so each card has exactly one card it can land on, the next higher of its suit, and that card may itself be buried. Before a move, follow the chain one step further and see where the card beneath will go.
The eighteenth fan starts with a single card. Move that card to its foundation or onto the next higher card of its suit and the fan is empty at once, ready for a King that is holding other cards down.
A card lying above a lower card of its own suit blocks that suit until it moves. Free those fans first.
The Fan questions and answers
How do you play The Fan solitaire?
Deal the deck face up into seventeen fans of three and one single card. Move the top card of a fan onto the next higher card of the same suit, or up to its foundation, one card at a time. The foundations build up by suit from Ace to King, and only a King can go into an empty fan.
What can go into an empty fan in The Fan?
Only a King. It can come from the top of any fan, and once it is there the Queen of its suit can follow it, then the Jack and so on down.
Can every The Fan deal be won?
Many cannot, and many more the solver cannot settle quickly. Of 100 shuffled deals, its quick dealing search proved 20 winnable and 13 lost and left 67 undecided; the deeper search behind the Hint button proved 42 winnable and 34 lost. So at least two deals in five come out and at least a third do not. Winnable in the menu beside New deal reshuffles until a win is proved, three shuffles on a typical deal and up to eighteen in testing.
Is there a daily The Fan game?
Yes. The Fan has a daily board, the same deal for everyone that day, dealt the way a Winnable board is. You need to be logged in to play it.