Balatro

Card

8.9~~/10~~

Our score

★ 4.7 Google Play·1M+ installs

Reviewed by Editorial Team, ScoredApps editorial · updated 2026-09-06

Screenshots

Poker hand scored as two pair with a multiplier beneath

Shop screen offering jokers and packs between rounds

Run scoring 320 chips at a multiplier over a thousand

Grid of special jokers available to unlock

Deck upgrade screen with cards being bought in a shop

Full modified deck laid out with altered suits and ranks

About Balatro

Balatro is poker hands fed through a roguelike: play a hand, score it, multiply the score with jokers you collected along the way, and beat a rising target before the discards run out. It costs $9.99 once, has no purchases and no advertising, weighs 98 MB, and holds a 5.0 average on the App Store.

Game information

DeveloperPlaystack Ltd

Version1.8 (Android) · 1.3 (iOS)

Size34.1 MB (Android) · 98 MB (iOS)

Price / In-app$9.99

Contains adsNo

In-app purchasesNo

Content rating13+

Requires (Android)Android 6.0+

Requires (iOS)iOS 13.5+

Offline modeFull — the entire game runs on the device with no account

Interface languagesNL, EN, FR, DE, ID, IT + 8 more

Store rating (Google Play)4.7 from 28,175 ratings

Installs1M+

Updated by developer2025-06-05

Data checked2026-09-07

Specs come from the official store listings and were last checked on 2026-09-07. Developers change pricing and requirements — check the store page before installing.

Balatro Review: $9.99 Once, and a 5.0 App Store Rating

Poker Hands, Multiplied

Each round sets a score to beat. You play poker hands from a standard deck — a two pair might start at 20 chips times 2 — and the numbers underneath are what the game is really about: chips added by the cards, a multiplier raised by everything else on the table. Between rounds a shop sells jokers, and each joker bends a rule: one pays for face cards, one multiplies when a hand contains three of a kind, one changes what a flush needs. A run collapses or explodes depending on how those effects stack.

The Jokers Are the Game

There are enough jokers that the interesting question stops being which hand to play and becomes which engine you are building. Decks can be modified with tarot and spectral cards, suits changed, cards duplicated or destroyed, so the deck you finish with barely resembles the one you started from. The store screens show a run scoring 320 chips at a 1,121 multiplier — numbers that seem absurd until you have built one. That escalation, from ordinary poker to a machine that produces impossible scores, is the whole appeal.

One Payment, No Adverts, 98 MB

The App Store lists a 5.0 average across 106,010 ratings, which is the highest score of any product in this catalogue — a perfect rating at six figures of sample size is close to unheard of. It costs $9.99 with no in-app purchases and no advertising badge on either store, and Play adds 4.7 from 27,600 reviews on a million installs. The install is 98 MB. Apple rates it 13+, listing simulated gambling and horror themes, which is worth knowing given the poker framing rather than any actual wagering.

Pros

One $9.99 purchase with nothing sold afterwards
Jokers change the rules rather than the numbers
Runs escalate from ordinary poker to absurd scores
A 98 MB install that plays entirely offline
Rated 5.0 on the App Store across 106,010 ratings

Cons

Costs $9.99 before you can try it
Small cards and dense text on a phone screen
Apple lists simulated gambling among the contents
The poker framing puts some players off immediately

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Verdict

The best-reviewed game in this catalogue, and it earns it: poker hands turned into a machine you build joker by joker, paid for once at $9.99 with nothing sold afterwards and no connection required. The only real caveats are screen size — the text is dense on a phone — and the simulated gambling framing, which is aesthetic rather than actual.

Gameplay9.5A roguelike whose every run builds a different scoring machine from cards.

Controls7.0Cards and joker text get small on a phone; a tablet is markedly better.

Replay value9.5Hundreds of jokers, stakes and deck variants, with runs that never repeat.

Graphics & sound8.0Deliberately low-fi cards and a soundtrack that escalates with the score.

Monetisation9.5Paid once, no purchases, no advertising and no online requirement at all.

8.9out of 10 · weighted average of the five scores above

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Frequently asked questions

Can it be played offline?

Yes, entirely. There is no account, no server and no connection requirement — runs, unlocks and progress all live on the device. That makes it the strongest offline game in this catalogue alongside the other paid titles here.

Is anything sold inside?

No. The $9.99 purchase is the entire cost: no in-app purchases, no season pass, no advertising and no cosmetics. Every joker, deck and stake is unlocked by playing, which in a game about escalating numbers is the only arrangement that would make sense.

What does it need to run?

98 MB and iOS 13.5 or later, so it runs on almost any phone still in use. The one caveat is screen size: joker text and card modifiers are dense, and a small display makes reading a busy board harder than it should be.

Is there any multiplayer?

No. This is a solitary game against the score target, with no online modes, no leaderboards to speak of and nothing shared. What people share instead is screenshots of absurd runs, which the game accommodates by making those numbers very large.

How long is a run?

Twenty to forty minutes for a complete run, and it can be paused and resumed at any point because nothing is timed. A single round takes a minute or two, so it works as either a long sitting or a series of short ones.