Balatro is one of 2024’s best games. Now, there’s an even better way to play it

I said I wasn’t going to download it.

Earlier this year, I became obsessed with Balatro. The hit poker roguelike got its hooks into me fast; I racked up 40 hours in the blink of an eye. I was sneaking another round in any chance I could, and it was pretty much the only thing I brought on flights for months. I knew that there would be a day where developer LocalThunk would bring it to mobile devices and I feared what that could do to me. But when the announcement finally came, I felt a surprising moment of restraint. I’d already sunk plenty of time into it and just didn’t feel the need to start it again on a new platform. I was free.

That is, until I caved and downloaded it just days after release. Now I’m playing all over again, but I can’t say that I’m mad about it. As I suspected, Balatro is the perfect mobile game, one that’s become my trusty companion during football Sundays. It’s an easy recommendation to anyone who likes to game on their phone — just make sure you have nothing important to do in the next few weeks before hitting download.

Balatro is a deckbuilding poker rouguelike that launched in February to immediate critical and commercial success. The core loop has players playing poker hands to earn chips. A run is split up into multiple antes that each have a chip total that needs to be reached in a few hands. Each hand has its own base chip value and multiplier, with plays like royal flushes being incredibly lucrative. The twist is that players can buy upgrades between each ante, from planet cards that will upgrade the base value of hands to tarot cards that can give specific cards buffs.

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The big hook comes in the form of jokers, buyable passive cards that completely change a run and