About the game
Balatro is a poker-inspired roguelike deck builder all about creating powerful synergies and winning big.
The poker roguelike. Balatro is a hypnotically satisfying deckbuilder where you play illegal poker hands, discover game-changing jokers, and trigger adrenaline-pumping, outrageous combos.
Combine valid poker hands with unique Joker cards in order to create varied synergies and builds. Earn enough chips to beat devious blinds, all while uncovering hidden bonus hands and decks as you progress. You’re going to need every edge you can get in order to reach the boss blind, beat the final ante and secure victory.
Description from the publisher’s Microsoft Store listing.
What you actually do
AI-assisted summaryYou pick a deck and start a run split into antes. Each ante has three blinds that grow harder: small, big, and boss. During a round you draw from a deck that begins as a normal 52-card set and play poker hands of no more than five cards. Hands and discards are limited. Scoring turns the hand into chips, then Mult multiplies that total, while jokers can change scoring or the rules. Cash from a win opens a shop for jokers, packs, and vouchers. You may skip some blinds for a tag instead of money and a shop stop. Boss blinds impose extra limits.
Written with AI from the sources below and checked claim by claim against them; nothing else is added. Wording is ours; Wikipedia content is CC BY-SA 4.0.
Trailer
Official trailer · XBOX on YouTube · Watch on YouTube ↗Loads from youtube-nocookie.com only when you press play.
Screenshots
Tap to expand · from the Microsoft Store listingAlso on Game Pass
Game details and art come from each game’s official Microsoft Store listing (cover images are cropped from those official images, or from publisher press kits, with our title overlay; nothing is AI-generated); art © the respective publishers, used for editorial review. Game Pass membership from Microsoft’s public Game Pass catalog, checked Sep 29, 2026. Critic scores appear only where a real aggregate exists; otherwise “Not yet reported”.