How the Indie Game Balatro Reinvents the Thrill and Magic of Poker

After Balatro’s release in February 2024, it made headlines for selling more than 500,000 copies in just two weeks—a rare feat for indie titles in the billion-dollar video game industry. Fast forward to 2025, and the indie game developed by LocalThunk and published by PlayStack has reached the milestone of five million unit sales.

It is reported that Balatro’s wins at The Game Awards 2024, namely Best Mobile Game, Best Debut Indie Game, and Best Independent Game, have helped it grow its popularity among players all over the world and across platforms. Balatro’s unit sales span not only PC and mobile but also consoles like Xbox One, which a previous post highlighted for its online connectivity, improved graphics, and external hard drive that enables players to optimize their gaming experience.

However, beyond these achievements, it’s essential to introduce Balatro as an indie game that soared to great heights for its unique and inventive gameplay. On top of being a roguelike deck-building game, Balatro is described as poker-themed, entailing a closer look at how it reinvents the thrill and magic of poker to capture the interests of an ever-growing player base.

Balatro As A Poker Variant

As a traditional card game that has been around since the late 18th century, poker has evolved into many variants. This is evident by the wide range of cash games and high-profile tournaments on the pioneering US online poker site ACR Poker, which brings the card game to the online world and has made it the flagship platform it is today.

Through key promotions like the Supersized Sunday tourneys and the high-stakes Venom Vault, ACR Poker introduces popular variants like Texas Hold’em, Omaha, Pot Limit Omaha, Sit & Go’s, and Blitz Satellites to players with varying play styles, strategies, and skill levels. In fact, the platform has even brought poker closer to the gaming community through its official Twitch streaming team, the ACR Stormers.

However, beyond poker being versatile enough to meet different player demands, its flexibility also enables video game adaptations, including Balatro. In reality, Balatro is considered a poker-themed game because players are dealt normal playing cards and must combine their strongest cards for the best four or five-card hand. This familiar logic based on poker makes Balatro more accessible, but its power in reinventing the card game and ensuring it remains engaging comes from its roguelike gameplay, as discussed below.

How Balatro Increases The Stakes Through Roguelike Elements

Among the key factors of poker’s enduring appeal is its blend of luck and strategy—both of which Balatro elevates through its hybrid genre of roguelike and deck-building. To start, players can try their luck by choosing a deck with unique effects and cards for each playthrough, a common characteristic in the roguelike genre. Each playthrough then consists of three blinds with increasing difficulty, each with target points that players must beat to gain rewards like upgrade options. Balatro’s upgrades include the collectible joker cards for passive bonuses, such as offering additional Chips or changing certain poker hands to increase the player’s score.

This is the part that requires players to use their logic and strategy, as they must plot every turn to reach the required points and move on to the next round with a better, stronger deck. So, while Balatro does away with the traditional poker elements like reading your opponents’ play and mastering the art of bluff, it reimagines the thrill and adventure of an equally strategic and unpredictable game through card transformations and bonuses.

Riding The Wave Of Trendy Poker-Based Games

Ultimately, Balatro is just one among many video games drawing inspiration from poker’s rules, terms, and overall gameplay to create an immersive gaming environment. Aside from this poker roguelike game, there’s also the poker adventure game Sunshine Shuffle, which adds narrative elements to a usual Texas Hold’Em game to raise the stakes. Players must follow conversations between talking animal characters reminiscent of the Animal Crossing franchise, requiring them to not only make smart bets but also uncover each character’s criminal past linked to a high-profile heist. However, unlike the widely available Balatro, Sunshine Shuffle is currently playable on only two platforms, namely Microsoft Windows and Nintendo Switch.

If you enjoyed this article, check out the rest of Aeonscope’s posts for more engaging content on tech, gaming, and more.