A Parent’s Guide to Balatro
“Mom, can I do more math?”
Most parents would love it if their kids asked them that. Instead, they may get asked whether or not they can play Balatro. And parents could be forgiven if they had no idea, or even got the wrong idea, of what that Balatro is. The truth is that asking to play Balatro may as well be asking to do math.
Balatro is a video game based on poker hands, but it’s not poker. That can be confusing because the rules of poker and playing cards are part of the gameplay, but not the actual game itself. If you’re curious about whether Balatro is a good fit for your family, read on!
Is Baltaro Appropriate for Kids?
Balatro is rated E10+ for Everyone 10+ with a Content Descriptor for Gambling Themes.
According to the ESRB Rating Summary, Balatro “has a poker theme, which includes the names of hands, scoring system, and types of playing cards, but does not include making wagers.”
Despite these gambling themes, Balatro is – in my opinion – appropriate for most kids. This and the E10+ rating assignment doesn’t necessarily mean that it will be easy to play for all kids, though. Many 10-year-olds likely have the reading comprehension and a grasp of math to enjoy Balatro, but other kids the same age may need some more time.
Balatro is random, yet it challenges players to control the chaos. And it will have your kids (and you) learning things even if you don’t realize it.
Where Can I Play Balatro, and How Much Does It Cost?
Balatro is available to play in nearly every way possible. You can pick it up on Steam, Nintendo Switch, PlayStation or Xbox digitally for $14.99, and it is also available on mobile platforms for $9.99.
There is also a “Special Edition” of Balatro available physically for PlayStation 5, Nintendo Switch, and Xbox consoles for $29.99. The game itself is identical to the digital version, but the box includes 10 Balatro-themed playing cards.
How Does Balatro Play?
Balatro is a video game that blends math and strategy within the framework of poker. Created in 2024 by a single developer who calls themself Localthunk, the game surprised many, ultimately winning numerous accolades and awards as best indie game of the year.
Balatro doesn’t have flashy graphics, but it does have a groovy soundtrack. While it may start out looking quite a lot like poker, it quickly becomes much more than that. The rules of Balatro are ever-changing. Depending upon how they play, your kids may find that a pair can be more valuable than a four-of-a-kind, for example. The basic scoring is based on traditional poker hands, so that knowledge and basis is something they will have coming into Balatro or will learn from it.
Playing cards are a key part of Balatro‘s gameplay experience, so it’s easy to think it’s a standard card game. But there are many different kinds of unique cards that make this no ordinary card game.
- Playing Cards (from a standard deck) are used to make poker hands, which leads to a score that is a combination of points and a multiplier.
- Planet Cards allow the points and multipliers for each hand to be tweaked. These begin with the eight planets we know (plus Pluto) and are correlate to common poker hands (pair, straight, flush, etc.). As you achieve rare hands, such as five hands, you will see new planet cards.
- Joker Cards offer different abilities that change the way cards work, in-game money is earned, or hands are scored. When used and combined correctly, Jokers lead to continued progression through ever-escalating blinds and antes and are a central element of Balatro.
- Tarot Cards are used to enhance playing cards by providing different abilities that affect how they score or interact with each other.
- Spectral Cards provide even more powerful effects that can range from duplicating or creating Jokers to converting all cards in your hand to the same suit.
- Voucher Cards are available at the start of each ante, which generally offer tweaks or changes to the rules.
In Balatro, players will work their way through eight different antes, each containing three different levels of “blinds” – Small, Big, and Boss. During each blind, players have a limited number of hands and discards to play hands and score as many points as possible. Each blind gradually increases the score needed to move on, and the Boss Blind offers a twist that makes gameplay more difficult. If you’re lucky and smart enough to defeat the Boss Blind after ante 8, you can switch to Endless Mode, where you rack up as high a score as possible.
After each blind, players earn in-game money, which can be used to shop for jokers and other cards to modify and improve their decks before going into the next round.
Some are available for direct purchase with the in-game currency and others are presented in booster packs of three or five cards, which have a random assortment of options. So there is an element of chance here as you never really know exactly what you are going to get, but note that there are no in-game purchases at all in Balatro.
Math is everywhere in Balatro, from figuring out your hand’s score, to calculating the joker effect, to anticipating how much in-game money you will earn. And the order of your cards and jokers matters, as different configurations are calculated differently. The game automatically does the calculations when you play your hand, but doing some simple math gives you an idea of what to expect, and whether your combination of cards will be enough to carry you on to the next hand, and the next blind, and the next ante, and so on. Some players are able to continue increasing their scores well past hundreds of billions of points, into levels that require scientific notation because there are too many digits to fit on the screen!
Balatro is random, yet it challenges players to control the chaos..
Sharing Balatro With My Kids?
I have three teenage boys, and I was able to enjoy Balatro with all of them in different ways. They are all of an age where they are curious or familiar with poker, so they all knew the different poker hands.
My oldest son and I first started playing at the same time. We would share new discoveries over dinner, whether it be the way jokers worked together, or how high we were able to score by arranging cards a certain way, or by triggering multipliers. Even though we weren’t playing together, we were experiencing and discussing the game, and it felt like we were discovering new things together every time we talked.
Then my middle son joined the fun after hearing us talk about it. It was a cool experience seeing him learn about the game, discovering things we knew and thinking about things in different ways than us. We would explain different jokers to him and help him maximize his hands by putting cards in the right order.
Finally, our 13-year-old began playing, and it led to many discussions about exponents, probability, order of operations and other mathematical concepts.
For me and my teens, it was a great experience in playing and experiencing a game together, even if asynchronously. It led to great dinner table conversations, fun car rides, and unexpected bonding over a video game we were all interested in.
Other Balatro Fun Facts
Aside from the math aspects, there actually are other educational benefits of Balatro to explore.
While it may seem like it doesn’t mean anything, Balatro is a Latin word that means a professional clown, jester, or buffoon. This is the first clue to the key elements of the game. All the legendary jokers are well-known clowns, such as Canio from Il Pagliacci or Yorick from Hamlet.
Plus, the Planet cards add another layer of fun for the curious. There are additional planets for rare hands like Eris for a Flush Five (five of a kind of the same card!) or Ceres for a Flush House (a full house with all cards of the same suit) that may not be common knowledge.
There are so many things in Balatro that pique curiosity. Believe it or not, many are learning about the now extinct Gros Michel banana and the modern-day Cavendish banana because of Balatro.
Anyone who gets the Balatro bug will likely go down many rabbit holes, thirsting for extra knowledge.
There are no in-game purchases at all in Balatro.
Making Sure Your Kids’ Video Game Experiences Are Flush with Fun
Whether with Balatro or any other game, it’s good to remember there are tools, tips, and resources available to help you manage your kids’ video game experiences and maximize their enjoyment.
It’s important to have household rules around appropriate video games and screen time, as well as using parental controls to help limit spending on new games or in-game purchases and managing online communications with others. Visit ParentalTools.org for step-by-step parental controls guides to help you back up your household rules.
It’s also always a good idea to check out and play the games your kids are playing for yourself. So play Balatro for yourself and do the math on whether it’s right for you and your family.
Visit ESRB’s Family Gaming Guide for more helpful tips to start the conversation.
Johner Riehl lives in San Diego with his wife Christina and three sons. He’s authored several books and articles on family gaming and online safety, and has promoted numerous games and events during his 25-plus-year PR career. When not working or playing games, he enjoys pickleball, planning vacations and making his own hats.
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