Balatro

Balatro
Information
Developer
LocalThunk
Publisher
Playstack
Version
1.0.1o-FULL
Platform(s)
PlayStation 4
PlayStation 5
Xbox One
Xbox Series X/S
Nintendo Switch
Nintendo Switch 2
Windows
Steam Deck
iOS
macOS
Android
Release date
February 20, 2024 (Console, PC)
March 1, 2024 (MacOS)
September 26, 2024 (Mobile)
Genre(s)
Roguelike, Deckbuilder

Balatro is a poker-based roguelike deckbuilder game developed by LocalThunk and published by Playstack.

It was released for Steam (Microsoft Windows and Steam Deck), PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One (all versions), Xbox Series X|S, and Nintendo Switch on February 20th 2024, with a port to macOS on March 1 2024. Mobile versions for iOS and Android, as well as an Apple Arcade version (called Balatro+) were released on September 26th, 2024, and Nintendo Switch 2 version was released on February 25, 2026.

Premise

Balatro is a deck-building roguelike where you must play poker hands and earn chips to defeat enemy blinds. Enhance your deck of playing cards, buy Jokers to modify each hand you play, and discover new and wild synergies to win!

—Official Steam description

Features

  • Seeded and unseeded runs
  • Stats to track your best hand, your favourite Joker card, your highest Ante, and more!
  • Automatically saves your current run to continue later
  • Handmade pixel art
  • New Game +++
  • Run-breaking synergies!

In-game Collectibles

  • Discover 200+ items to complete your collection
  • Includes 100+ unlockable items to improve your future runs
  • 150 Joker cards, each with their own abilities and synergies
  • 5 editions of each Joker to collect: Base, Foil, Holographic, Polychrome and Negative, each with their own powerful effect
  • Each playing card can be enhanced eight ways, come in one of four editions, and/or have one of four seals applied to it
  • 15 Decks to choose from for each run, with 8 difficulties
  • 22 Tarot cards to enhance your playing cards
  • 12 Planet cards to upgrade your poker hands
  • 18 Spectral cards with wide-ranging effects
  • 32 Vouchers to improve your run
  • 30 Blinds with tricky abilities that require you to think outside the box
  • 24 Tags giving you special bonuses, at the cost of skipping a Small or Big Blind

Technical Details

System Requirements

  • Requires a 64-bit processor and operating system
  • OS: Windows 7, 8, 10, 11 x64
  • Processor: Intel Core i3
  • Memory: 1 GB RAM
  • Graphics: OpenGL 2.1 compatible graphics card, integrated graphics
  • Storage: 150 MB available space

Supported Languages

The game interface currently fully supports 12 languages, with a further 3 in beta translation. Balatro does not have any verbal audio, so all sounds are language-agnostic.

More information on supported languages

Screenshots

Accolades

Trivia

  • The game's name is a reference to the Latin word "balatro", which means a jester.
  • While the Latin pronunciation of word balatro is /ˈbɑːlɑːtroʊ/ BAH-lah-troh, LocalThunk said that its pronunciation can be "whatever makes people happy,"[1] though he personally pronounces it /ˈbælətroʊ/ BA-luh-troh, as does the narrator in the game's launch trailer[2].
  • LocalThunk once revealed some names of the game used during development, including (chronologically) 'cardgame', 'Joker poker', 'Rogue Hold Em' and 'Fool's Gambit'[3].
  • The game is written in the Lua programming language, using the Löve framework.
  • The soundtrack of the game consists of 5 songs and is composed by LouisF. It can be found on Steam and Spotify.

References

  1. ↑ LocalThunk, who said he doesn’t actually know either — “whatever makes people happy.” - How do you pronounce Balatro? We asked the developer
  2. ↑ Balatro - Official Launch Trailer
  3. ↑ First name was 'cardgame', [...] - LocalThunk at Balatro Discord
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