Poker probably isn't the first thing that comes to mind when talking about the modern roguelike boom. However, start playing Balatro and within minutes you're chasing straights, flushes, full houses, and four-of-a-kind hands while earning enough points from your deck to survive another round. The best thing is that you don't need to know the nuances of how to play poker.
That's part of what makes poker mechanics so useful to game designers. Playing cards give developers a system millions of people already know, complete with built-in rarity, probability, risk, and the thrill of swapping something out in hopes of drawing something better. Balatro may be a breakout example, but it's far from the only video game that utilizes this familiar gameplay.
Balatro Isn't Really Poker, and That's the Point
Calling Balatro a poker game isn't accurate. LocalThunk describes the game as solitaire with a "poker coat of paint." They also acknowledge that it has little to do with actual poker beyond hand rankings. The game evolved from an attempt to create a version of the Cantonese card game Big Two before becoming the game we know today.
The game doesn't force players to learn poker strategy, pot odds, or how to bluff. Instead, it borrows hand rankings, something that many non-poker players already know.
If you don’t already know what beats what in poker, no problem. The game teaches you the different hand rankings when you start playing. Better still, if you forget, you can always access a quick help file for a list of hand rankings.
Balatro looks at poker hand rankings and asks, “What happens if we let players break it?” Jokers radically alter scoring. Tarot cards modify individual cards. Planet cards improve specific poker hands. Deck manipulation can turn uncommon hand rankings into routine ones.
Poker supplies the basic rules, while the video game supplies ways to abuse them. That creates an excellent foundation for a roguelike game.
Poker Hands Are Almost a Ready-Made Video Game Mechanic
From a game-design perspective, poker hand rankings combine simplicity with probability. Even someone who has never played a hand of poker can figure out that four Aces should be worth more than a pair of tens.
Those familiar with poker understand that stronger hands are more valuable because they are less common. As such, the game already builds in a risk/reward system.
For example, suppose you have a pair of tens and four cards to a flush? Do you take the guaranteed score for the pair or risk it to try and pull the flush?
Roguelikes thrive on that type of decision-making. During a run, players must constantly decide whether to stick with their current strategy or gamble resources for something stronger. Poker requires decision-making every hand, and game developers can tweak it to make an exciting game.
Other Games Have Been Experimenting With the Same Formula
Balatro isn't the first game to use poker as the backbone of its design. Developers have already explored the idea.
Poker Quest: Swords and Spades uses a standard 52-card deck for the foundation of its fantasy roguelike. You assign cards to equipment. The cards you draw determine which weapons and abilities you can activate, with stronger combinations able to trigger more powerful effects.
Instead of a full house beating another player, it determines how effectively you can blast a monster with a fireball.
Aces & Adventures takes another approach. Its combat system combines poker hands with ability cards inside a deckbuilding RPG. Players build and modify their decks while using poker combinations to power attacks through runs and story campaigns.
These games take advantage of a system that already includes ranks, combinations, scarcity, randomness, and probabilities. Instead of programming those systems from scratch, designers can repurpose them for video games.
Poker Knowledge Helps, But You Don't Need It
You don't need to understand Texas Hold'em strategy to recognize that making a flush in Balatro is useful. The game teaches you what each combination is worth, and you can learn the rest through trial-and-error.
Knowing how to play poker can help make mechanics more intuitive. If you’re already familiar with hand rankings and the difficulty of drawing to them, you can make smarter decisions on when to swap cards to improve your hand.
If you want to learn more about the basics of how to play poker, LegalUsPokerSites.com's guide to the most popular poker games breaks down games including Texas Hold'em, Omaha, Seven-Card Stud, Five-Card Draw, and other variants.
There’s one thing to keep in mind when playing games like Balatro. You have to forget about poker strategy. For example, a heavily modified deck in Balatro may produce a flush more often than normal. Other times, a deck will have duplicates you wouldn’t find in a traditional deck of cards. Also, Jokers are extremely powerful and very valuable point-wise.
Instead of playing your deck like you’re trying to win pots at the poker table, you’re focusing on what would be good in your current run.
Why Playing Cards Work So Well in Roguelikes
A deck of cards works remarkably well for roguelikes because most people have played at least one card game in their life. Even if they haven’t played poker, they have likely played Rummy or Go Fish and are already familiar with the concept of pairs and runs.
Most people already know there are four suits in a deck and they easily recognize the different ranks of cards. For most players, the only thing they have to learn is whether a flush beats a straight and the difference between a Straight Flush and a Royal Flush. The game will cover that information.
Balatro adds bizarre Jokers and deck-altering effects, and players roll with it because they already understand the basics of the deck. Poker Quest attaches fantasy equipment to cards because players already understand what a Queen or an Ace represents, so adding powers or abilities is easy to learn.
The playing card system provides structure, while the added elements make a traditional game more fun.
Poker's Influence Doesn't Need to Look Like Poker
Poker mechanics have successfully invaded video games. Developers don't need green felt, betting chips, smoky card rooms, or computer-controlled opponents to take advantage of the game. They can reduce poker down to its most reusable components, such as hand rankings, probability, and risk versus reward, then use those ideas as a basis for completely different genres.
Balatro shows how fun and exciting that approach can become when you apply creativity. You don’t need to learn how to play poker before jumping into a poker-inspired roguelike. These games borrow poker-like elements and run on their own rules. Understanding those rules matters far more than knowing when to bluff.
