What Is Balatro: The Card Game That Surprises Everyone

Why Balatro Stands Out Among Card Games

Here are just a few reasons why Balatro is so popular:

• It’s simple, like poker. The main goal is to create poker hands and score points.
• It’s highly customizable. In addition to the simple starting deck of 52 cards, there’s a deck of 150 jokers, 22 Major Arcana tarot cards, and 12 planet cards. Plus, the game includes vouchers, spectral cards, booster packs, tags, and 15 different decks with 8 difficulty levels. The combination of all these cards creates countless variations in how you can play and win the game.
• It’s stylish. The main theme music is soothing and never gets tiresome. The game design is inspired by old-school games with striped graphics. Tarot cards are intricately illustrated, and holographic effects along with animations add to the style.
• It’s accessible. Balatro is available on all mobile devices as well as on Windows and MacOS computers. The game costs $11.99 on the App Store and $9.49 on Steam.

How To Play Balatro: A Beginner’s Guide to Success

Balatro is a roguelike game where random abilities and upgrades drop during the gameplay. Each new attempt involves creating a new build. If you fail to collect the required points, the game restarts. While the levels remain consistent, your build is always different.

The Basics: Getting Started

The game begins with choosing a deck. At the start, players can pick from 4 decks:

• Red Deck: +1 discard every round
• Blue Deck: +1 hand every round
• Yellow Deck: Start with extra $10
• Green Deck: At the end of each round, add $2 per Remaining Hand and $1 per Remaining Discard

There are 15 decks in total, which unlock as you progress through various decks and difficulty levels.

A match consists of 8 antes. Complete all antes, and you’ll win the round and move to the endless mode.
An ante includes 3 rounds: Small Blind, Big Blind, and Boss Blind (there are 30 different bosses). After completing each round, players earn money and can purchase items like blinds, arcana, planets, vouchers, and other packs.

Your goal is to create combinations and earn points. Each combination has its own Chips and Mults. For example, the cheapest starting combination, High Card, gives 5 Chips and 1 Mult. Playing an Ace-high would score you: (11 points for the card + 5 points for the combination) x 1 Mult = 16 points.

You can level up combinations with planets or jokers. In addition to standard poker hands, Balatro includes two unique combinations:

• 5 of a Kind
• Flush House (three of a kind + a pair of the same suit)

The Deck-Building Twist

The key feature of Balatro is deck building, achieved by purchasing various additional cards.

• Jokers (150 cards): These have the most significant impact on gameplay. Some add Mults for suits or combinations, while others add Chips. Jokers can also grant abilities, like creating a straight or flush with only 4 cards instead of 5. Some provide extra money or allow you to skip cards. Entire Reddit discussions are dedicated to joker tier lists.
• Vouchers (32): Usually priced at $10, you can buy 1 voucher per ante. They enhance gameplay by increasing hand size, discard options, stack percentages, etc.
• Planet Cards (12): Upgrade combination levels for higher scores.
• Tarot Cards (22): Transform cards into Steel Cards (x1.5 Mult), Glass Cards (x2 Mult with a 25% chance to break), double money, increase card rank, and more.
• Spectral Cards (18): Upgrade gameplay by transforming dealt cards into the same rank or suit, creating jokers, or upgrading every poker hand.
• Booster Packs (32): Provide one of several arcana, planets, jokers, playing cards, or spectral cards.

Balatro Gameplay Strategies: From Beginner to Pro

Your skills in Balatro improve with every match. The game even has its own “wiki,” highlighting its vast potential and depth. Here are some of our gameplay tips:

Tips & Tricks to Dominate in Game

• Pay attention to joker order. Place Mult-adding (+Mult) jokers first, and xMult jokers last.
• Monitor your deck and remaining cards. The concept of “outs” works in Balatro just like in poker. For example, it’s easier to complete a flush (9 outs) than a straight (8 outs).
• Watch out for Boss Blind effects. They can disable suits you’ve been focusing on. Use vouchers to reroll or jokers to counteract these effects.
• Skipping blinds early can be beneficial, especially if it grants you a rare Spectral Joker. However, don’t skip too often — focus on leveling up combinations.
• Decide which combinations are worth upgrading. For example, leveling up a straight adds +30 Chips and +3 Mults, while upgrading a flush adds only +15 Chips and +2 Mults.
• You can build your strategy in Balatro in different ways. You can constantly collect a flush, or you can pump up the senior card to such a strength that it will be most profitable to play through it and all matches can be passed through this combination.
• Consider playing with a friend to share the focus required for tracking jokers, Boss Blinds, money, and combinations. Two minds can increase your chances of victory.
• Start a new game if your deck isn’t viable. Don’t waste time trying to salvage a doomed match.

The Card Game That Will Hook You: Why Balatro Is Addictive

The hardest part of this game is stopping. The mechanics resemble the best slot machines — every click produces satisfying sounds, hypnotic music, and dazzling animations. With no clock visible on the screen, you might be surprised to find you’ve played for 8 hours straight.

I began writing this review two weeks ago, thinking I’d only spend 2–3 hours understanding the mechanics. Imagine my surprise when I realized I had clocked 50 hours of gameplay, including a 9-hour session.

I can confidently say this game is addictive. However, unlike poker or casinos, you only spend money once — on the game itself.

Balatro: One of the Best Games for 2024 

At The Game Awards, Balatro won three categories:

• Best Indie Game of the Year 2024
• Best Debut Indie Game
• Best Mobile Game

Interestingly, Balatro was initially released for mobile devices.

The game launched on Steam on February 20. Within the first hour, it had completely recouped its development costs, generating $1,000,000 in revenue within 8 hours. Over the first 72 hours, it sold 250,000 copies.

User Reviews and Reactions on the Game

Balatro has received 79K reviews on Steam, with 98% of them overwhelmingly positive. Gaming portals have rated it similarly, often pointing out the only downside: the difficulty of putting it down.

Here are some reviews:

• Steam Community: User feedback mirrors professional reviews, praising the fair price, balanced gameplay, and originality. Players describe it as one of the best-designed indie card games they’ve ever played.
• Gameland.gg: Rated Balatro as “a focused, fun, and inspired take” on the roguelike genre, creatively integrating poker mechanics for strategic depth and replayability. Its unique gameplay, neo-retro visuals, and addictive progression earned it a 9/10.
• Indy100: Highlighted the game’s simple mechanics, retro aesthetic, and engaging appeal. They praised the interplay of Jokers and upgrades, calling it one of the finest card games available, with a score of 4/5.
• TechRadar: Celebrated its blend of poker and roguelike elements, emphasizing its replayability and dynamic strategies. They described it as an “intoxicating combination” that’s difficult to put down.
• TheGamer: Commended its nomination for Game of the Year and remarked on how initial skepticism among players quickly turned into admiration after trying it. They described its mix of mechanics as “surprisingly fresh and engaging.”

Games Like Balatro: What to Play Next

Balatro is likely the only roguelike game that combines poker mechanics with additional card decks. If you’re looking for something remotely similar to Balatro, try Chinese Poker (OFC Pineapple). This variant of poker involves creating combinations and winning pots.

If you’re interested in roguelike games with a similar dynamic but in a non-poker setting, consider these titles:

• Dungeons & Degenerate Gamblers – Begin your adventure in a tavern where players engage in a unique blackjack variant. Each suit corresponds to specific skills. Remove unnecessary cards from your deck, and add business cards, postcards, tarot cards, and much more.
• Bingle Bingle – Similar to Balatro, but instead of poker, you play roulette. Use various betting options, unique balls, and create your own strategy to score points and beat the casino.
• Luck Be a Landlord – This slot-machine-style roguelike relies on symbol combinations to generate income, offering a mix of luck and strategy, reminiscent of managing Jokers and modifiers in Balatro.
• Other notable mentions: Slay the Spire, Stacklands, Poker Quest, Card Shark, Inscryption, Dicey Dungeons, and Monster Train.