Brass Chapel: Fortune Lane

About Brass Chapel: Fortune Lane

Brass Chapel: Fortune Lane is a solo card game set at the chart table of a forgotten royal archive, where cartographers once drew the kingdom by lamplight. Four mountain ranges of cards, twenty-one in all, rise from a shared foothill of nine, and a brass compass rose waits to be played on. A card can be played when nothing lies on it and it fits the table's rule. At first that means one rank above or below the card on the rose, and the Ace and the King meet. Clear a ridge and the rule turns: next the cards must lie exactly two ranks apart, then within two ranks, and round again.

Two pigeonholes keep a card aside, and the chart drawer is a stock of fourteen that you turn over one card at a time. The four suits are compass stars, anchors, keys and charts, worth one to four steps a card, and every cleared ridge rotates their worth, so the cheapest suit today may be the dearest by the next ridge.

The game is a lane of five deals, and the Royal Road across the top of the chart is the lane. Before each deal the archive lays two rule cards face up and you take one: a spare pigeonhole, a deeper drawer, a wild suit, double points for a ridge, a longer streak. A small brass ship sails toward the next waymark as you clear cards. A cleared deal pins its waymark with a lit flag, a lost one leaves the pin leaning, and the points of all five deals are added together. It is score only: a lost deal keeps what you made. Light all five waymarks and the whole road glows.

Every deal is checked by a solving player before you see it, so it can always be cleared, and its par shows what a sharp player can reach. A lane saves where you leave it, in this browser only; nothing is uploaded.

How to play

A lane is five deals. Before each one, take one of the two rule cards on offer. It changes that deal only.
Tap an open card, or drag it to the compass rose, when it fits the rule shown above the table. The rule turns every time you clear a ridge.
Put a card in a pigeonhole to reach the one under it: drag it there, or tap it and then the pigeonhole.
Turn a card over from the chart drawer when no play is left. Clear a ridge and the worth of the suits rotates.
Clear every card of the four ranges to win the deal and pin its waymark. The points of all five deals are added down the lane.
Press H or the Hint button for a good move, and U or the Undo button to take a move back.

Controls

Tap a card, or drag it to the compass rose — play it
Drag a card to a pigeonhole, or tap it and then the pigeonhole; R — park
Tap the chart drawer or press E — turn a card over
Arrow keys or WASD, then Space or Enter; D-pad or stick, then Ⓐ — play
Undo button, U or Ⓨ — undo; Hint button, H or LB — a hint
P, Escape or Start — pause

Frequently asked questions

What is a lane?

Five deals in a row. The points of each deal are added together, and the rule card you choose before each deal changes how that deal plays.

What is the rule above the table?

The table's matching rule. It starts as one rank up or down, then turns to exactly two ranks apart, then to within two ranks, one step each time you clear a ridge.

What do the waymarks show?

Each waymark on the Royal Road is one deal of the lane. It is pinned with a lit flag when you clear the deal and left dark and leaning when you lose it.

Can every deal be cleared?

With "Winnable deals only" (the default, and always for today's challenge) a solving player has cleared the deal before you see it. Choose "Any shuffle" in the settings for the luck of the draw.

Does it save my lane?

Yes, in this browser only. Your unfinished lane, best scores and badges are never uploaded.