#game-review #finishedgame2024 # Balatro (Bal🂡tro)  [Console:: PC] [Status:: Beaten] [Approximate Start Date:: 2024-03-02] [Finish Date:: 2024-03-30] (date of first win) [Clear Time:: 11.5h] [Total Play Time:: 121h 30m] [nReplays:: 0] ## [Rating:: 90] this is my new airplane game # Playthrough Notes - ooooh this is a good laundry game (game you play for half hour stints without feelings like you're constantly starting and stopping) - Beat the Yellow Deck by chaining together the Burnt Clown boosting Pairs and High cards to the point where I'd get significantly more points from playing a pair of 2s compared to playing a straight fluish. - Beat a deck by using the Bull Card and just accumulating truckloads of cash. This demonstrated the value of amassing large amounts of chips, and how they can work for beating them game, even if accumulating Mult is ultimately the best way to play beyond the main limits. - [[Balatro Chip and Mult Scaling]] - NORTHERNLION IS CANON TO THE CREATION OF BALATRO - https://localthunk.com/blog/balatro-timeline-3aarh # My Thoughts - [[Balatro's code is full of if-else statements, but this is not bad because it is easily readable]] - I grew up on Hoyle Card games, so a computer game bout playing cards is nothing new. But when you add roguelike elements, somehow this becomes the most interesting card-based computer game I've played in a VERY long time. I really dig it. - Might record some of my preferred strategies, or at least the ones I used when I finish a run. - You really gotta find ways to make the growth continuously grow via multiplication. - Do not sleep on the Green Joker + Ramen growth? - LOL - Someone really annoying called this game one of the most predatory games of all time because of its design - "dopamine rush wahooo!" - I really rebut this because the only thing that you're spending is your time - "I don't understand why money is the defining factor?" - If this is used in moderation, I really fail to see how playing this game would be a problem. Like any other thing dresigned to monopolize our attention in the 2020s, Balatro is decidedly far less bad in my opinion. - Later that night I got my highest score run lol ## This might be a game that you could play around family at casual gatherings - This is a game I could get my grandpa hooked on, that's how effective it appears to be. Once you get over the initial learning curve of what each kind of card does, you're just playing a card game that keeps track of all the rules for you. - This might be why tabletop simulators are so fun, the program keeps track of the rules for you - I wonder if tabletop simulators allow you to toggle specific rules on or off / make custom "house" rules. - This doesn't necessarily replace Grandpa's trips to his cousin's house to play Bridge once a week, but it is something that could give him a new game to play. - I wonder if I should bring this game to a family gathering to offer them a chance to play and others can watch along. This would make for nice distraction in case people don't want to do a puzzle or whatever. - I did and it he was very interested in it ## The Tension between not knowing the outcome Bonuses, but Still knowing the base amount of points is what keeps the game interesting And yes, I could calculate it all on my own, and I imagine at the highest level of play you kind of have to do that, but at casual play, the tension is what makes it fun. ## My Best Run - Played on Spectral Deck White Stake using Flush Fives with Jack of Hearts. - opted for Jacks because I got a polychrome 10. - Got multiple Deja Vus in spectral packs that i opened, which really helped. - At my peak I would play 5 Polychrome red seal jack of hearts and have four polychrome red seal steel cards in hand. - I got a score that was greater than the lower bound on the number of atoms in the observable universe ($10^{78}$). # Favorite Moments / Memories ## Music to Video Poker to: made a page about it, [['tunes to fuck (play balatro) to' or 'tfw negative brainstorm']] - [[Hyperdrama]] - Justice - Newjack from their album [[Justice]] - Anything with an absurdly high BPM when the run starts *getting good* - Machine Girl's [[Neon White]] sound track works great! - Some garbage YTPMV compilation # What were you doing when not playing this? - Hanging with the Turnabout Afterparty crew, amusingly playing Turnabout Trump of [[Apollo Justice Ace Attorney]] # Relevant Links - First Win: ![[Pasted image 20240331000510.png]] - Highest Score: Obtained on [[2025-02-03]], played Flush Five Jacks with some polychrome steel jacks held in hand. Got too cute moving some jokers around and as a result I got horsed. ![[hiscore-balatro-jacksinaction.png]] ![[balatro-hiscore-gameover.png]]