Hieroglyph

Type

Base

Effect

-1 Ante,
-1 hand each round

Unlock Requirement

Unlocked from the start.

Stats

Buy Price

10

Upgrades to

Hieroglyph is a voucher that decreases the ante by 1, at the cost of losing 1 hand each round.

Usage Notes

Hieroglyph cannot reduce hands per round below 1 when it's equipped against Golden Needle ( ) (Challenge) or The Needle ( Boss The Needle.png) blind, as players always start with 1 hand per round.

Hieroglyph can cause certain Boss Blinds or Showdown Blinds to appear on antes they wouldn't normally be able to appear on, since the Boss Blind doesn't change after Hieroglyph is purchased. Rerolling the Blind after purchasing Hieroglyph will change it back into an expected Boss Blind.
Ante 0 can be reached by purchasing a Hieroglyph on Ante 1.
- Ante -1 can be reached via incredibly rare circumstances, involving a voucher tag, very fast reflexes, and the seed to roll both Hieroglyph and Petroglyph. A basic demonstration can be found here.

Blue Deck gives +1 hand, which can mitigate the -1 hand penalty of Hieroglyph.
Golden Needle ( ) starts with 1 hand, and Hieroglyph cannot reduce hands below one, making this Voucher free to take.

Jokers that rely on scaling can benefit from Hieroglyph with the extra Ante. By playing more rounds, you give your Jokers more chances to get stronger.
- For example: Square Joker, Lucky Cat, Castle, etc.
- Alternatively, Throwback can gain more XMult by skipping more Blinds.
Jokers that can potentially reward you for playing more Blinds. You can get more value from these Jokers this way.
- Economy Jokers such as Satellite, Golden Joker, Mail-In Rebate, etc.
- Tarot and Spectral Card Jokers such as Vagabond, Superposition, Séance, etc.
With up to three more Blinds with the additional Ante, Burnt Joker will get more chances to activate.
- This also includes Jokers like Trading Card, Marble Joker, Space Joker, etc.
Cards with Seals can be activated more with the extra Blind.

Grabber and Nacho Tong both give +1 hand, which can mitigate the -1 hand penalty of Hieroglyph.

Green Deck will give the player $2 less at the end of each blind.
Black Deck makes it difficult to use Hieroglyph, as its -1 hand per round penalty means players will only have 2 hands to beat each blind.
Similarly, Blast Off ( ) makes it even more difficult to use Hieroglyph, as its -1 hand per round penalty means players will only have 1 hand to beat each blind.

Troubadour is not recommended, as its -1 hand penalty means the player will only have 2 hands to beat each blind.
Card Sharp can activate one less time.
Loyalty Card becomes harder to activate.

On Blue Stake or higher, Hieroglyph becomes more difficult to use with the -1 discard restriction from the start of the run. This means it may be more difficult to get the poker hand you need before the end of the round.

"Hieroglyphs" generally refer to Egyptian hieroglyphs, a writing system that used symbols or pictures to stand for sounds and words. Due to hieroglyphs being an ancient writing system from centuries ago, the effect of the voucher sending the player back an ante can be interpreted as them being sent backwards in time.
The symbol found on the card art seems to be the Eye of Horus, an ancient Egyptian symbol.

RS3 Vouchers in Balatro
Base vouchers	Overstock Clearance Sale Hone Reroll Surplus Crystal Ball Telescope Grabber Wasteful Tarot Merchant Planet Merchant Seed Money Blank Magic Trick Hieroglyph () Director's Cut Paint Brush
Upgraded vouchers	Overstock Plus Liquidation Glow Up Reroll Glut Omen Globe Observatory Nacho Tong Recyclomancy Tarot Tycoon Planet Tycoon Money Tree Antimatter Illusion Petroglyph Retcon Palette