Balatro: Redefining the Card Game

Balatro is probably one of the most addicting things I have ever played. Balatro is a poker game at its core, about playing poker hands that win enough chips to move onto the next round. However, the game has so many different modifiers that make it so much more than a regular poker game.

    In a standard run of Balatro, there are eight antes, each with their own “Small Blind,” “Big Blind,” and “Boss Blind,” each giving their own unique amounts of money. To pass these blinds, the player must earn a certain minimum amount of chips (for the first Small Blind the chip requirement is 300). To calculate the amount of chips the player has earned, they are given two values. One is the chip value (which increases because of the different playing cards played, for instance the standard King playing card adds 10 chips to the chip value). The other is the multiplier value (which increases due to either Jokers or special card abilities).

     To get Jokers, Booster Packs, Tarot Cards, Planet Cards, and anything else in the game, the player has to use the money they earn from each Blind. Each Joker, Tarot Card, and Planet Card has its own unique ability. Joker cards can add to the number of chips in the pot for the hand or add/multiply the multiplier (for instance, the Ancient joker card multiplies the multiplier by 1.5 times every time a card of a certain suit is played). Planet cards level up different hands (for instance, Pluto levels up the High card hand, adding one to the multiplier card and 15 chips, at least for the first level). Tarot cards have vastly different abilities, like the Empress adds a plus four multiplier ability to standard playing cards and The Fool can copy the last Tarot/Planet card the player used. Booster packs contain different Jokers, Planet cards, Tarot cards, etc. While the game may sound like just every other standard card game, it truly is not. 

    The addictive magic of the game is through its replayability. Every run is completely different, because you get different Jokers, different Planet cards, different Tarot cards, etc. It is very easy to completely lose track of time playing hand after hand and watching the chips stack up. Part of the magic of the game is figuring out which jokers work perfectly with each other, and which just don’t work, all while the funky electronic (almost hypnotic) music plays in the background. All of the amazing qualities of this game are exactly why it won the Indie Game of the Year award in 2024. The game is at its best when you try it out for yourself with very little knowledge of the game mechanics. I highly recommend picking up a copy of the game because it is just that fun.