Hi! Go play Balatro. I’m sure you don’t need me to tell you that. Maybe you needed to months ago, when I was already telling everyone to go play it, but its recent nomination at The Game Awards (and the solo dev’s earnestly humble response) has earned it a lot of new players. In real time, we’ve seen people deride the fact that a pixel card game has been nominated for Game of the Year instead of [insert favourite], then return a few days later, cap in hand, Jokers on the brain, and dozens of hours sunk into Balatro.
But there remains a forcefield around it for some, and I am here to demagnetise it. I understand that no game can be for everyone. I never got the Tears of the Kingdom hype, so I know what it’s like to have everyone love a thing you just don’t get. Also I hate puppies. My issue is that there is a subsection of people who are avoiding Balatro for the wrong reason, and with the odds already stacked against it as an indie, I feel the need to go to bat for it.
You Don’t Need To Know Poker Hands
Balatro is not a Poker game. If this is your reason for avoiding Balatro, consider that reason vanquished. I know people told you it was, I know it’s billed as a Poker roguelike. It definitely is a roguelike, for the record. But it’s not a Poker game. The reason people say that is because most people think Poker is cool. Like whiskey and cigarettes, some people like it but many people just want to like it because they understand that it is a very cool thing.
If you don’t want to like Poker just to impress people, congratulations on never caving to peer pressure. Now, go play Balatro or everyone will think you’re a loser. It’s true that Balatro uses basic Poker rules as its framing, but with every hand you play, you change the rules. It tells you in advance what your hand is worth, so you don’t need to have that knowledge memorised, and the more you play that hand, the more its worth.
Mix in the Tarot cards and Jokers that offer further boosts, and you can start building your deck to suit whatever your strategy is. Building up Flushes? Get more of the same suit. Relying on Three of a Kind? Focus on adding a single card over and over. It doesn’t use Poker rules, it uses your rules, and you change them every game.
I have played Balatro runs where I have been annoyed at pulling a Royal Flush because what I really wanted was Two Pair? Does that sound like any Poker game you’ve ever played? I know your answer is “I’ve never played Poker”, but let me tell you, the correct answer is “no, it does not”.
Balatro Teaches You How To Play
Some people have even (and I realise this seems to run counter to my argument) claimed Balatro has taught them how to play Poker. But I would put it to you that an actual Poker game would not teach you this – it would require this basic knowledge before you start. Somebody who doesn’t know how to play Poker would have a bad time with an actual Poker game, because they’d have no idea what to do. That’s not the case in Balatro. Ergo, Balatro is not a Poker game.
What these people mean is they’ve been taught the definition of what hand names mean. While most hand names are relatively intuitive, it’s natural that a newcomer wouldn’t know what a Flush was, and which hand was better. Balatro teaches you that without punishing you for missteps as Poker would. In real Poker, overreliance on a single hand would be a sign of weakness, a lack of confidence in your understanding, restricting your approach. In Balatro, it’s the best strategy you can have.
There’s also an unspoken fear factor in Poker – the money. It’s not a particularly complicated game as cards go, but if someone is teaching you Crash (a much harder game), they’re doing it so they can play a fun game of Crash with you. If someone is teaching you Poker, it’s so they can eventually take money off you. Even playing with fake money in a Poker game brings pressure, and the embarrassment of going bust. Balatro avoids that – money earned is spent on upgrading your deck, and each round you need to beat a high score (as video games tend to work) rather than worrying about when to go all in and when to fold.
Balatro doesn’t care much about the sanctity of Poker hands, gives you complete customisation control over your decks, and removes the pressure of watching your chips. It’s a Poker game in the same way Halo 3, which lets you ride a car, is a racing game. And you know what else? You think of a more timely reference. Balatro may not be for everyone, and even being on the podium at all is a massive indicator of the passion of the playerbase. But if you’re avoiding Balatro because you don’t like Poker, you’re missing out for the wrong reasons.
- Top Critic Rating:91/100
- Released
- February 20, 2024
- Developer(s)
- LocalThunk
- Publisher(s)
- Playstack