Best games to play on a laptop without a mouse

In short: pick games played entirely on the keyboard. Free in a browser tab: DRIFTIT (drifting, arrows or WASD + Space), Celeste Classic, 2048, Tetris, Monkeytype and Dungeon Crawl Stone Soup. Worth buying, all on Mac and Windows: Celeste, VVVVVV, Super Hexagon, Baba Is You, Undertale and Race the Sun. Bigger PC games that work too: Stardew Valley, Hollow Knight, Vampire Survivors, Into the Breach and XCOM 2. If you would rather use the trackpad, choose slow, turn-based games, never shooters. The table has the keys.

What makes a game laptop-proof

• Keys only. No aiming, no clicking on cards, no dragging units. If you can play it with your hands in typing position, the trackpad never gets in the way.
• Light on graphics. Most laptops have integrated graphics. The games below list modest minimums on their store pages (Intel HD class), or they run in a browser tab.
• Short sessions. Laptops are for gaps in the day. A run, a level or a race that takes minutes fits better than a game that wants an evening.
• Mac too. Half the "laptop games" lists forget that many laptops are MacBooks. Every pick here runs on macOS, either natively or in the browser. For drifting specifically, see drift games on Mac.

Free, in the browser (nothing to install)

1. DRIFTIT

Ours: a top-down drift game made for exactly this. 20 short tracks, three laps each against a target time, a ghost of your best run and online leaderboards. It runs in Safari, Chrome, Firefox or Edge with nothing to install (the first load is about half a megabyte), and the whole game is on the keyboard: arrows or WASD, Space for the handbrake, and the menus too (←→ to pick a track, Enter to race, Esc to pause). A run takes one to three minutes.

Good to know: it is a 3D game, so on battery your laptop may run it on its power-saving graphics; plugged in it is smoother. There are no touch controls, so it will not run on a phone or tablet.

Play DRIFTIT free

2. Celeste Classic

The original PICO-8 version of Celeste, free on itch.io. Tiny, hard, perfect for ten minutes. Arrows, X and C.

3. 2048

The number-merging puzzle, free in any browser, played with the four arrow keys. It works with one hand while the other holds a coffee.

4. Tetris

The official free version is on tetris.com and runs in a browser tab. By default ←→ move the piece, ↑ rotates it, ↓ drops it faster and Space drops it at once. A game lasts as long as you want it to, which suits a five-minute gap.

5. Monkeytype

An open-source typing test: the purest keyboard game there is, and the laptop keyboard is exactly what it measures. You just type; Esc opens a command line that reaches the settings without the trackpad.

6. Dungeon Crawl Stone Soup

A free, open-source roguelike for the long train ride. The official site's "Play Online" button opens it in a browser tab with simple 2D tiles, and every action is a key (move with the arrows or the hjkl keys). It is turn-based, so nothing happens until you press something: ideal when you get interrupted.

Worth buying (all on Mac and Windows)

7. Celeste

The full game: a hand-crafted climbing platformer with an assist mode if it gets too hard. Steam lists Windows, macOS and Linux, with Intel HD 4000 graphics as the minimum. Arrows, C to jump, X to dash, Z to grab.

8. VVVVVV

Terry Cavanagh's gravity-flipping platformer: you cannot jump, only flip upside down. Left, right and one flip key, so it plays with very little hand movement. Steam lists Windows, Mac and Linux and a 42 MB download.

9. Super Hexagon

Also by Terry Cavanagh: rotate left or right to survive walls closing in. Two keys, runs that last seconds, very hard to put down. Windows, Mac and Linux, 35 MB.

10. Baba Is You

A puzzle game where you change the rules by pushing words around. Arrows to move, Z to undo, R to restart. Slow and thoughtful: the best pick for a long train ride. Steam asks only for Intel HD 3000 graphics.

11. Undertale

An RPG where you can talk your way out of every fight. Played on the arrow keys plus confirm and cancel keys, and very light on hardware.

12. Race the Sun

An endless solar-glider racer by Flippfly: steer between obstacles before the sun sets. Keyboard or gamepad, Windows, Mac and Linux.

Bigger PC games that work on a laptop without a mouse

The other "laptop without a mouse" lists name bigger games too. These five hold up on a bare laptop: the first three on the keyboard alone, the last two turn-based, so the trackpad is enough. Prices are Steam's list prices on 1 November 2026, and all five have Mac versions.

13. Stardew Valley

The farming game everybody has heard of ($14.99, Windows, Mac, Linux). It plays on the keyboard: WASD to walk, C to use a tool, X to talk or pick things up, E for the menu and the number keys for the toolbar. A day in the game takes a quarter of an hour or so, a good fit for a train ride.

14. Hollow Knight

A large, hard and beautiful action platformer ($14.99, Windows, Mac, Linux). Arrows plus letter keys, every action can be rebound, and there is nothing to aim. More demanding on graphics than the small games above, but still made for modest hardware.

15. Vampire Survivors

The cheapest of the five ($4.99, Windows and Mac): you only steer with WASD or the arrows and your weapons fire on their own. A run lasts up to half an hour, and it is the rare action game where one hand is enough.

16. Into the Breach

Turn-based tactics on a tiny 8×8 grid ($14.99, Windows, Mac, Linux). You click to move and attack, but the game waits for you on every turn, so the trackpad costs nothing but a little time. A full run takes an hour or two, and you can stop after any battle.

17. XCOM 2

The heavier turn-based pick ($19.99, Windows, Mac, Linux). Moving a soldier is a click, but Tab switches soldiers and the number keys pick abilities, so the trackpad does little work. It needs more graphics power than anything else here; check the minimums on its store page before buying for an older laptop.

Civilization VI fits the same way and is in the trackpad section below; more keyboard-only PC games (Hollow Knight among them) are in our keyboard-only list.

Quick comparison

Stop the trackpad from getting in the way

The real enemy of laptop gaming is a palm brushing the trackpad and clicking away from the game. Two settings help:

• Windows 11: Settings → Bluetooth & devices → Touchpad, then switch Touchpad off (on Windows 10: Settings → Devices → Touchpad). Many laptops also have a function key with a crossed-out touchpad icon that does the same; check your laptop's manual.
• Mac: System Settings → Accessibility → Pointer Control has "Ignore built-in trackpad when mouse or wireless trackpad is present". As the name says, it only applies while you have another pointing device connected, so on a bare MacBook there is no switch: rest your palms on the edges of the keyboard deck instead.
• In a browser game: if a stray click moves focus to the address bar, the game stops hearing the keys. One click back on the game fixes it.

Games that are fine on a trackpad

If you do not mind using the trackpad, the rule is simple: the slower the game, the better. A trackpad is imprecise and slow to move across the screen, so it only hurts when the game punishes you for being slow.

• Turn-based strategy: Civilization VI and similar 4X games wait for you on every turn.
• Card games: Balatro and Slay the Spire are a click per card, with all the time you want to think.
• Calm puzzle games: Mini Metro (drawing metro lines) works with slow drags.

The worst fits are shooters with mouse aim, real-time strategy and anything with fast menus. That is why this list leads with keyboard-only games: they make the trackpad irrelevant instead of merely bearable.

More keyboard-only picks

Twenty picks, with the exact keys for each, are in our list of games you can play with only a keyboard; for drift games on a MacBook see drift games on Mac; and for zero installs see games without downloading.

New to drifting? The keyboard drifting guide gets you sliding in five minutes; the Oval is the easiest place to start.