★★★★★ Oh Balatro
Fri Mar 14 2025 SlapMyAssAndCallMeHarryBoy oh boy where do I even begin. Balatro.. honey, my pookie bear. I have loved you ever since I first laid eyes on you. The way you drive up that Mult and strike fear into the Boss Blinds. Your silky smooth Spectral Packs, and that gorgeous Jimbo. I would do anything for you. I wish it were possible to freeze time so I would never have to watch you become mid. You had a rough development, but you never gave up hope. You are even amazing off the Game Awards stage, you're a great game and deserving winner, sometimes I even call you dad. I forvever dread and weep, thinking of the day you will one day become mid. I would sacrifice my own life it were the only thing that could put a smile on your beautiful face. You have given me so much joy, and heartbreak over the years. I remember your first failed demo and its like my heart got broken into a million pieces. But a tear still fell from my right eye when I watched you win the Game Awards, because deep down, my glorious clown king deserved it. I just wanted you to become great. Then allas, you did, my sweet baby boy was played by the Game Awards Orchestra and I rejoiced. 2023 was a hard year for us baby, but in 2024 you made history happen. You came became a bestseller and I couldn't believe it. I was crying, bawling even, and I heard my glorious clown king exclaim these words, "GAMBLERS, THIS IS FOR YOU!" Not only have you changed the game of Poker and the world forever, but you've eternally changed my world. And now you're getting older, but still the goat, my goat. I love you pookie bear, my glorious king, Jimbo Balatro.
★★★★★ If you are hesitant to buy read this!
Tue Jan 21 2025 Mistakes_W.MI know that this game says that it’s “Poker meets Solitaire” but that statement doesn’t do it justice. I was a little hesitant to buy the game because the preview didn’t catch my attention. I saw the reviews and decided to buy it. Upon playing, it was mostly like “Poker meets a rouge-like”to me. Each run has a type of deck you can choose (it’s still a 52 card deck) BUT the color gives you a different effect. Red gives an extra discard to your standard discard amount, blue gives you an extra turn, etc. The more you play the more crazy effects you’ll get with your decks, and your Jokers. Each run starts off like a rouge-like, No stats, everything is slow, but as time goes on you’ll get better cards, better point multipliers, and better jokers. The jokers have tons of effects that you can unlock and build into how you enjoy playing (pairs, two pairs, straight, full house, etc). I bought it yesterday and was hooked, I played for hours on end without getting bored. Plus the music is fantastic! Highly recommend playing with earbuds or with the sound on.
★★★★★ Incredibly Fun and Enjoyable! but Eats Battery
Thu Oct 10 2024 SomewhatCloudyIf you are into Poker or Roguelikes (Binding of Isaac for example,) you will most likely find Balatro to be a very interesting and fun. Jokers are like powerups for your deck and lead to a lot of fun interactions and interesting combos. Now with that being said, I feel the nature of how the game difficulty progresses ruins the expectation of experimentation. As to meet with the high antes you either need to set up the same powerful, but repetitive combos, or get very lucky, which leaves a very small window to mess with jokers as it becomes very quickly becomes punishing to do so.
This does not ruin the game in the slightest, just my ability to explore it further.
I own this game on PC as well and very much enjoy the interface changes made for mobile and I actually find myself trying to drag cards in the PC version because I’ve become accustomed to dragging them here. Highly recommend for mobile. My only gripe for mobile is for some reason, this game makes my phone very hot and eats battery very fast. Like it’s taking a LOT of processing power to play. My phone usually has a long battery life but to lose 20% or more on a single run of Balatro is kind of unfortunate. If this gets fixed, it’s an easy 5 star.
★★★★★ The same experience every time
Mon Jun 16 2025 Felix TeiranI cannot express how often I try booting up this game, because I do really like the gameplay loop. It offers me something to do when I have absolutely nothing else to pass the time with. The facade of deck building is engaging enough that it feels like you’re progressing a little bit at a time.
My main problem are the challenge levels, the bosses, whatever you want to call them. It seems like every time I boot up this game, I am offered upgrades by the shop that are immediately taken away from me by one of the boss’s conditions. Stuff like “all clubs are debuffed” and “you have to play a different hand type every round.” All of the upgrades in the game are designed around rewarding particular hands. The tarots help you duplicate cards or give you bonuses from them being played, and the planets increase the multipliers you get for specific hands. These are the only way to progress, aside from the jokers. And when you take those upgrades away, you set the player back to square one.
I understand the need for challenge, since the game is incredibly basic. But to me, the rng of deck building and pulling the right cards for your hand is challenge enough. It’s not even frustrating to encounter a boss that shuts down the only combo you’ve been allowed to buy. It’s just annoying, and reminds me why I don’t play this.
★★★★★ Absolutely earns the hype!
Sun Dec 29 2024 Bob DewalrusThis game is a gobsmacking innovation, on a level with Slay the Spire. “Poker meets solitaire” is a terrible description; it’s so much more than that. It’s a card based roguelike that gets everything right.
It’s complex and deep, but never overwhelms you. There’s a lot going on, but the learning curve is utterly painless. You’ll know enough to win in your first few playthroughs, but you’ll discover more and more subtleties over time. As your skill improves, the challenge scales with you. There are always new goals to chase, but you are in complete control of what to try and when, and how difficult (or not) you want your game to be. And while winning is satisfying, Balatro achieves the highest virtue a roguelike can aspire to — it’s great fun even when you lose.
When I saw Balatro on the PC Gamer top 10 of all time list, I thought, B.S. No card game belongs on that list. I was wrong. The universal gushing and five star reviews are totally legit. It’s the best game you never thought you’d like, and the more you play, the truer that becomes.
★★★★★ Lost hundreds of hours of progress
Wed Oct 16 2024 tgucksThis game was objectively fun. It is a genius dopamine rush and quite unique. The developer clearly knows how to make a viral hit. However, the only real point to the game is to unlock things. I had played for hundreds of hours on my phone. I had nearly unlocked the full “collection” and completed 15/20 challenges. Then, I wanted to see how the game looked on the iPad. What a terrible decision. I’ve now lost everything, any and all progress. iOS Gamecenter happily logs me in and tells me I’ve already earned the majority of the achievements. Balatro thinks I’ve never unlocked a single thing and never won with a single deck. This is a game that centers entirely on unlocks and progress, but fails to store your data with any degree of reliability or replicability. I will never play this game again. Play at your own risk and, if you do, be sure to only ever play on one device. This review was posted after version 1.1.15 was released which erroneously claims “Cloud save improvements”. I also filed a bug report with the developer and received this response:
“The developers are aware of the issue and are looking into why this is happening. Currently, there is not a way to restore individual profiles. In the meantime, I would suggest playing on one device.”
★★★★★ Worth every cent.
Fri Oct 04 2024 VantaUchihaI don’t normally write reviews and I’m not usually one to be into too many mobile games or even for that matter card games but this, there’s something about it that has an addictive and rewarding effect. I think the mix of elements of tarot and it’s design seem very fun and mysterious it’s not something that you’re too unfamiliar with, but just enough mystery to keep you wanting more. From the art, the classic pixel style art in remembrance of old Solitaire on Windows XP or Windows 98 it gives almost a nostalgic vibe as well as the music, hands-down probably the most entertaining card game that isn’t ordinary or some fake casino style solitaire style mobile game that pushes ads in your face. The pace of which the game and rounds run at as well is just perfect. Get those combos and get that reward system rewarded, you know that funny little center in your brain where you just want a little more? it hits all the right spots and it keeps you going, it’s amazing. Hands-down, 10 out of 10. Five stars, 100%.
★★★★★ Good, not Great
Wed Apr 01 2026 rjh19820813rjhI believed the hype, bought the game, and enjoyed it for a week. Then I deleted it. It’s good, not great, but really close to great, and there are two reasons why.
First are the boss battles. Not because they’re tough, but because they’re stupid, reducing an otherwise smart game based on skill and strategy to pure luck. Stuff like: Draw cards face down. Draw face cards face down. Play only one hand type. All really dumb, unless you have the joker that undoes boss powers (you won’t most times).
Second are the Jokers. This could have been a stellar game with a few dozen jokers and combos for extra power ups. But there must be hundreds of jokers in this game, on top of celestial cards, on top of tarot cards, on top of stone and steel and glass cards. You want to study up every card? Be my guest. I bet most people don’t and delete this game quickly. There is no preview for the score of your hand and runs can take up to an hour or more for good ones, only to find the straight or whatever you need won’t happen with tarots and face down cards in the next major boss battle. Such a frustrating shame.
