How to Play FreeCell Without a Mouse

This article describes how to play the game FreeCell using the numeric keypad instead of a mouse.

FreeCell starts with eight columns of cards. There are four free cells and four home cells. To move a card using a mouse, you select a card with the mouse and then click the destination for the card.

To move a card using the numeric keypad, press the number of the column to select the card. When you do so, the last card in the column is selected. To move the card, press the number of the column to which you want to move the card.

For example, if you had a red jack on the top of the fourth column and wanted to move it to the black queen on the sixth column, you could follow these steps:

1. Press 4 to select the jack.
2. Press 6 to play the jack on the queen.

To move a card to the free cell, select the card you want to move and then press 0 on the numeric keypad. You can also press 0 when no card is selected to choose a card in the free cell that you want to send back into the game.

To move a card into the home column, select the card and press 9. Once you move a card into the home column, the only way to retrieve the card is by clicking the Undo command. You can do this only if you have made no other plays since you moved the card to the home column.

If you try to move more than one card into an empty column, you are prompted to move either the top card only or the entire column.

If you select a card and then decide not to move it, you can deselect the card by pressing the column number again.

To see a card that is partially hidden by another card, press the card's column number twice. When you do so, FreeCell displays all the cards in the column slowly.