When I say “laptop”, I mean ones that can be played with keys and the touchpad.

I’m a little bored with the usual Solitaire and Freecell.

I did play Forge of Empires for a while but found progressing was nigh on impossible without spending actual money.

Cavestory is awesome, 2d sidescroller. not sure if it is free anymore though.

GOG.com were giving away dungeonkeeper a while back, but you would need a mouse.

Not quite free but cheap as, http://www.humblebundle.com is worth keeping an eye on.

Steam has a ‘free to play’ section as well.

+1 for steam, there are also some free play periods on a lot of games or silly offers for under a tenner for older game packs.

Cavestory is free afterall

http://www.cavestory.org/download/cave-story.php

If you can bring yourself to get over the 8bit style, and the odd design, its an AWESOME story. Hugely long, loads of depth.

Also, Yahtzee makes some pretty cool inde games. All freeware. The detective one is pretty cool, and has a really tidy stealth mechanic:

“trilby, art of theft”

http://www.fullyramblomatic.com/games.htm