Balatro Is Getting Its Own Playing Card Deck

Balatro fans will soon be able to snag a physical deck of playing cards inspired by the popular poker roguelike. Over a year after its initial launch, Balatro continues to find incredible popularity, with the title’s addictive game loop and easy-to-understand rules making it one of the highest-rated releases of 2024.

Currently boasting an OpenCritic score of 92, Balatro has found success with players and critics alike, with the indie title even snagging several awards at The Game Awards 2024, including Best Independent Game and Best Debut Indie Game. As of January 2025, the indie game had sold over five million copies, with around half of all sales coming after Balatro was released for mobile devices in September 2024. The game’s massive popularity has yet to fizzle out, inspiring several collaborations and merchandise drops, including a plush version of the title’s mascot, Jimbo. Now, a new piece of Balatro merch is being teased and is set to hit shelves soon.

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In a new post made to the game’s official Twitter account, fans can get their first glimpse at the official Balatro playing card deck, which consists of 52 standard cards and four of Balatro‘s signature Jokers: Joker, Juggler, Blueprint, and Gros Michel. The deck costs $16 and is now available to preorder on Fangamer, with more official merchandise available on Balatro‘s website, including T-shirts, hoodies, and coffee mugs.

Poker Roguelike Balatro Inspires Physical Playing Card Deck

Along with a steady stream of merch drops, Balatro has also collaborated with several other popular games in the past, with more crossovers likely to follow in the future. December 2024’s Friends of Jimbo 3 update added card skins inspired by Shovel Knight, Warframe, Cult of the Lamb, and Divinity: Original Sin 2, while February’s Friends of Jimbo 4 patch included more skins featuring characters from Assassin’s Creed, Bugsnax, Critical Role, Fallout, Rust, Sid Meier’s Civilization 7, and Slay the Princess. Developer LocalThunk has promised that Balatro‘s first major gameplay update will be released sometime in 2025, introducing new strategies and ideas to the title.

Solo developer LocalThunk recently shared more details about Balatro‘s development process, explaining that he didn’t expect the game to be a hit and that early high review scores from major outlets “didn’t make any sense.” The creator also jokingly mentioned that he would have only given his own game an eight out of ten. First released in February 2024, Balatro made over $1 million in its first eight hours of release.

Game

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Strategy

Digital Card Game

Roguelike

Released

February 20, 2024

ESRB

E10+ For Everyone 10+ // Gambling Themes

Developer(s)

LocalThunk

Publisher(s)

Playstack