Balatro review: poker face - The Verge
A new game from solo developer LocalThunk combines the hand mechanics of poker with the thrilling loop of roguelikes.
Two words: poker roguelike
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If that phrase is appealing to you, then you’ll find plenty to love in Balatro.
ByKevin Nguyen, a features editor at The Verge, where he publishes award-winning stories about labor, business, and policing. Previously, he was a senior editor at GQ.
Feb 26, 2024, 8:00 PM UTC
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If that phrase is appealing to you, then you’ll find plenty to love in Balatro.
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FAQs
What is a Rake Chase?
Rake chases are poker promotions which are incentives for players to rake more and reward them generously for that.
What is TP in WPT poker?
Tournament Points (TPs) are used to buy into VIP tournaments on ClubWPT. All players start with a fixed amount of TPs (500) upon opening a VIP account. They cannot be reloaded but will be automatically “topped up” once per day.
How do you copy the Joker in Balatro?
Once a Poker hand is played Blueprint will continue copying the last Joker to its right even if its moved around afterward. This can be exploited by first playing the winning hand then moving Blueprint to copy the end-of-round effect Joker such as Reserved Parking or Mime while scoring is calculated.



