“Balatro is a card game.” – “Boring.”

“It was nominated for the game of the year award in 2024.” – “WHAT??? Thank god it didn’t win it’s only a card game it cannot be a great game! But it was even nominated, that could only be mistake!”

“And… it won the independent award and the reviews on metacritic.com are over 90% – average.” – Left the chat.

Balatro is “only” a card game, yes, but it is the best one on this planet for me.

A short description: “It is a singleplayer roguelike deck-building game based on the rules of poker. You choose a deck, each with unique effects and cards, before each run. A run is divided into antes, each with three blinds of increasing difficulty. During a round against a blind, you can use a limited number of hands and discards to play poker hands, and attempt to score the required number of chips.” Sounds boring? It isn’t! The game is generating a new challenge again and again and you have to face all difficulties you can even dream of! The game is fascinating because of its simplicity – it feels like a game of the 80s and 90s. “Plug and play” and you cannot stop – it’s modern-day Tetris for me.

You have 52 cards on your deck and you can improve them with new skills or delete them to get only one colour for example. You have to get “flushes”, “full houses” or “two pairs” to get better points and to reach the goal. You have small blinds, big blinds and boss blinds to master. You can play or skip the small and the big blinds. When you do this you get new skills instead and you can go to the boss faster – but, be careful, every boss is a great challenge and you have to improve your deck further and further. So don’t go to fast to the bosses! A boss can block all you heart cards e.g. or can kill two of your cards every round – the bosses are not easy to beat. And you need luck that the 8th and last boss only wants you to reach 100,000 chips! It is a rogue like and you can face a boss who wants 300,000 points! Or more! And then the chance is high to loose the game… and then you will start again! And again! And again! Believe me!

“Does it look good?” No. It looks like a card game which could be 20 years old – or even older. “But does it matter?” No! The game is pure fun and its gameplay is the reason why you should play it. And as you can believe the soundtrack isn’t spectacular, too – but it is relaxing, so it fits for a card game.

One thing I have to mention – try the challenges of the game! You get challenges like “you have to play without the jokers” or “you cannot earn money” – ouch, hard! But fun!

Balatro is really worth every cent you have – it is a game that doesn’t look spectacular or sounds great, no, but its gameplay is challenging and you want to try it again and again… and again… I have now 100 minutes of playtime on the clock and I have never played poker before. Get it!

Verdict: The Joker mixes up your soup! And it will become more tasty again and again!