With fans and critics agreeing that it’s one of the best games of 2024, Balatro is truly taking the world by storm. And with the new release of the game on mobile devices, fans can take their favorite poker roguelike anywhere they want (no matter how much it may annoy their significant others).
Every Deck In Balatro, Ranked
Which one brings the fun factor?
Coming to mobile has given Balatro much more exposure to the general public, bringing in waves of new and returning players alike. If you’re struggling to get through your first run, or just want to hear some neat secret features, you’ve come to the right place.
10You Can Increase Game Speed
Turbo Dealer Mode
The game never outright tells you this, but you’re able to actuallyspeed up the dealing and scoringof cards. In theOptionsmenu, selectSettings, then under theGametab you’ll see the option to set yourGame Speed.
Cranking it up to 4 makes runs go a lot faster, especially when you factor in all those long and layered late-game combos you’re bound to set off. Beginners who want a better idea of how the card scoring system works can also choose to slow down the Game Speed, making it easier to see how all the different mechanics interact with each other in scoring.
9Skipping Blinds Is Clutch
Tags are your friend
The concept of skipping a Small or Large Blind is rightfully intimidating at first glance, forfeiting not only the chance to score interest and reward money, but also the chance to access the shop for that round. But in many cases, it can be worth it to skip a Blind for the reward of the Tag.
The best way to approach choosing Tags and Blind Skips is to compare how much the Tag is offering against how much you stand to gain from another round of payments and shopping. It’s unlikely that you’ll find a negative Joker on your next stop, but you stand to win more by playing a round than doubling your wallet of $3.
8The Misprint Joker Gives Hints
The Glitch…
A recently-discovered secret in Balatro comes in the form of the Misprint Joker, which adds a random amount of Mult with each hand played. The description text for the card glitches and changes rapidly, but if you’re in a round and can spot it, it actually tells youwhat card is on top of your deck.
10 Best Jokers To Use In Balatro
These are most consistent Jokers in the game!
The Misprint Joker occasionally flashes a string of numbers and letters, representing a card in a standard deck that sits on top of your pile of upcoming cards. In order to spot and decipher it, keep an eye out for when the description flashes a string of 4-5 characters in the format of “#@(number)(letter)”. The number represents the card rank (11-14 for Jack, Queen, King, and Ace) and the letter represents the suit (H, D, S,orCfor Hearts, Diamonds, Spades or Clubs).
7Focus on a Specific Hand
The planets are aligned
At the end of the day, Poker (and by extension, Balatro) is all about playing the best hand possible. But unlike Poker, Balatro lets you tip the scales in your favor by changing the deck and implementing upgrades and special cards to your game.
By the time you finish the second Ante, you’ll want to have chosen one or two types of hands that you aim to focus on throughout the game. There are plenty of Jokers to help boost every possible hand, but the most effective builds morph their decks to consistently land the same highly-leveled hands, which are then boosted by a combination of all your Jokers.
6Interest Is Important
Don’t blow your savings
The end of each round of Balatro takes you to this screen: the Cash Out tab. Your winnings for the round are laid out in front of you and it’s important that you try to maximize how much you win each and every round you play.
Interest grants you extra money for the amount of cash you have in your wallet at the end of the round (one bonus dollar for every five in your wallet). While the initial cap for interest is $5 (from having $25 in your wallet), keep a lookout for Vouchers and Jokers that boost your interest earnings, granting you far more money for your deepened pockets.
5You Can Get New Jokers Via Achievements
Achievement get!
If you’ve been noticing that you’re getting some new Joker cards popping up as you play on the side of the screen, but don’t know what the deal is, we’ve got you covered! New Joker cards (as well as a few other items) can be unlocked as you play by completing challenges and tasks in the game.
Click on theOptionsbutton and selectCollectionto not only view all the collected cards and materials you’ve gotten so far, but also what cards you’re still missing and how you can unlock them. Challenges to unlock new Jokers including having $400 in your wallet at one time, buying the Blank Voucher ten times and even scoring 100,000,000 chips in a single hand.
4There Are Scores For Impossible Poker Hands
Five of a kind!
In a game of Five Card Draw, laying down a Five of a Kind at the table would get you swiftly kicked out of the Casino. But with the mechanics of deck-building and Tarot cards in Balatro, it’s entirely possible to play some inconceivable Poker hands.
Balatro Challenge Mode Guide
Clear Balatro’s Trickest Trials With Ease.
The “impossible” poker hands that can appear in a game of Balatro areFive of a Kind(five cards of the same rank),Flush House(a full house of the same suit, and theFlush Five(five cards of the same rank and suit), and they all carry huge bonus modifiers for points.
3The Order of Your Jokers Matters
It can’t be pure chaos
The Mult system in Balatro comes in two forms: adding to your total Mult score and multiplying your total Mult score. If you take a second to think all the way back to fourth-grade arithmetic, you can figure out that ordering your Jokers from left to right can change the final sum of Mult points.
Without getting in to too much math jargon, you want to put your “+ Mult” Jokers to the left of your “x Mult” Jokers, so that way you maximize the amount of chips being multiplied at the end of a hand.
2You Can Play With Among Us Cards
Also The Witcher, Dave the Diver, and Vampire Survivors!
Less of a tip and more of a trick, the Friends of Jimbo update for Balatro added new appearances for Jacks, Queens and Kings of each suit. The best part? They now start the icons of other hit video games as the new royalty.
Four games in total have been added to theCustomize Deckfeature, with one for each suit: Among Us for Hearts, The Witcher for Spades, Vampire Survivors for Clubs and Dave the Diver for Diamonds. They don’t change anything in terms of gameplay, but they sure are fun and stylish.
1You Can Make Suits Stand Out More
High Contrast Cards are here
Have you ever tried to build a Flush and accidentally played a rogue Diamond-suited card instead of a fifth Heart-suited card? We’ve all been there and thankfully theHigh Contrast Cardssetting is here to help.
High Contrast Cards change the colorway of each suit to stand out from one another, making it much easier to tell them apart at first glance. Instead of just “red and black” colors, the suits turn into a easily-discernible Blue, Red, Yellow and Purple.
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