Balatro on Xbox Game Pass: A Must-Play Roguelike

Balatro turns poker into a spectacular scoring puzzle

Balatro looks modest at first glance: pixel art, playing cards and a familiar poker framework. Beneath that simple presentation is an unusually deep roguelike from solo developer LocalThunk, built around experimentation, risk and the irresistible pursuit of a bigger score.

The game was nominated for five Game Awards and won three. Its success also translated into huge sales, with 5 million copies sold by January 2025.

How a run works

Each round asks you to play poker hands made from five or fewer cards, with a target score that rises as the run continues. There are eight antes, or levels, and each ante contains three rounds. Depending on the cards available, you might build anything from a high-card hand to a straight flush.

The important difference is that Balatro lets you reshape the odds. Between rounds, the shop allows you to purchase additional cards and alter the make-up of your deck. Tarot cards can add points or improve multipliers, while Planet cards strengthen particular poker hands. A heavily supported pair may eventually be worth far more than four-of-a-kind, so successful runs usually focus on one or two reliable hand types.

Jokers are the real engine

Jokers push the game well beyond a conventional poker variation. You begin with five Joker slots, although later circumstances can give you room for more. There are 150 Jokers, each with its own effect and potential role in a larger scoring strategy.

Some bonuses are temporary. Popcorn, for example, adds 20 to your multiplier but loses four points of value after each round. Others are much rarer and considerably more powerful: Cavendish applies a 3x multiplier to the entire hand.

Early rounds give you room to test combinations, but reaching ante 8—and pushing into the endless mode beyond it—requires far more deliberate construction. Jokers such as Cavendish, Gros Michel and Baron can multiply an already growing multiplier, while Blueprint and Brainstorm can copy the effects of other Jokers.

Placement matters as much as selection. Balatro follows an order of operations, so arranging your Jokers correctly is essential. In general, score bonuses should sit to the left, followed by additional mult effects and then Xmult effects.

A gentle-looking game with serious depth

Those systems can seem complicated when listed together. In practice, the opening rounds teach you through failure, giving you time to discover unusual Joker combinations and understand how the deck-building tools interact.

That learning curve is a major part of the appeal. Once the rules become familiar, a successful run can feel as though you have broken the scoring system, even though every result comes from mechanics the game intentionally provides. Jimbo the jester may mock you after a defeat, but a well-built run can make ordinary arithmetic feel remarkably rewarding.

A collection of unique Joker cards in pixel art style in Balatro

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A screenshot of a boss battle in Balatro, depicting a top-down view of cards on a table, with a series of special Joker cards splayed out at the top of the screen, the player’s played hand in the middle, and the rest of their hand at the bottom.

Why Game Pass is a good way to try it

Balatro works particularly well on a handheld device such as a Nintendo Switch or a phone, but its short rounds and endlessly adjustable strategies make it dangerously easy to keep playing late into the night. Xbox Game Pass offers a convenient way to find out whether its card-building loop suits you—just be careful about starting one more run at bedtime.

A screenshot of Balatro, depicting a top-down view of cards on a table, with an “Uncommon” card highlighted to display a pop-up box with more information that reads: “Not Discovered. Prevents Death if chips scored are at least 25% of required ships. Self destructs.”

In addition to Game Pass, Balatro is available on Android, iOS, Nintendo Switch, Nintendo Switch 2, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Windows PC, Xbox One and Xbox Series X.

Balatro is small in presentation, enormous in possibility

The premise is easy to understand, but the interaction between poker hands, shop purchases, Tarot cards, Planet cards and 150 distinct Jokers creates remarkable variety. Whether you are chasing ante 8 or attempting the extreme scores of endless mode, every run asks you to adapt the cards you have into a coherent plan.

That combination of accessibility and depth explains why Balatro became one of 2024’s most talked-about roguelikes. It is a natural fit for short sessions, yet its systems are rich enough to occupy far longer than planned.