So I Played Balatro For The First Time Today

After months of heckling and recommendations, I finally caved and played my first run of Balatro today. For those who don’t know, Balatro is an indie rogue-like poker game that took the internet by storm when it launched in February. To date it is still among the top ten best selling new games on Steam for 2024, a list that has been crowded with indie games like Palworld and Hades 2.

Rogue-like poker is probably a confusing description if you haven’t been keeping up with modern video games, and could still be even if you have. The rogue-like genre has been exploding in popularity over the last few years with many indie games and even many triple A games like God of War Ragnarok and The Last of Us 2 introducing rogue-like modes as additional content years after launch. The term “rogue-like” encompasses a few mechanics, but generally it means that a game has a certain level of challenge to it. Players aren’t expected to beat the game on their first try. Failure is all part of the process. Each “run” or attempt gains valuable knowledge about how to approach the next run, but also often unlocks more useful abilities or items to increase chances of success.

So how does this apply to poker? The player starts with a normal deck of cards and has to play hands to reach a certain number of chips in order to progress. This is where classic poker knowledge is helpful. Pairs, flushes, straights, full houses are all important to recognize when you draw a hand of cards. You can only play a certain number of hands to earn chips, and you can discard a certain number of times too. The X factor that Balatro introduced into all of this is Jokers. Joker cards give you various power up’s that when used correctly multiply and amplify the chips you score with certain hands. In my first run I came across a joker that gave me extra points for every hearts card I was able to score with. It can range from simple bonuses like that to more complicated effects.

I took so long to try it out because I’ve never been super interested in poker as a game. Clearly this is a hugely popular indie game (Balatro sold over one million copies in the first month after its release), so it was still on my radar. But with so many games in my backlog and so many great games coming out all the time, it was hard to make the time to try this one. 

My first run came within a few thousand points of reaching the eighth and final ante. From what I hear, eight levels is a “winning run” but you can always keep going until defeat. Progression comes in the form of beating a small blind, a big blind, and a boss, which will usually have some ability that limits your ability to use certain cards or strategies. One boss wouldn’t let me score with diamond suited cards and another wouldn’t let me score twice with the same type of hand. This can have a major impact if it limits a strategy you have been relying on.

I had a lot of fun with my first run of Balatro. Part of me was worried that this would be too dangerous a game to play, that I would become obsessed. I am happy to say that I don’t think I’ve reached that level. Balatro is a very cleverly designed game and I will be back to try more, but I don’t find myself as enamored with it as I know some people are. I still have a huge desire to play other games like Dicefolk (another creative rogue-like that just released on the Switch), finish playing the fascinating Animal Well, and check out a few more great demos that are still playable after Steam’s Next Fest has wrapped up. There’s so many great indie games out there. 

I’m glad I was finally convinced to try Balatro because I have much more of an understanding of its massive success. I will be back. I can’t leave it at just one singular run. Gotta reach that final boss so I can say I beat it on the second attempt.

I know some people reading this have been playing Balatro. I see you on Steam and on Nintendo Switch Online. Feel free to leave a comment with your tips, tricks, and your own experience with Balatro. How many attempts did it take for you to reach the eighth ante? What’s your favorite joker or strategy? What other rogue-likes have taken up your time before this one? I think there is an interesting discussion around the huge popularity of rogue-likes in general. Would love to hear your thoughts on any and everything.