Balatro Beginner's Guide: Scoring, Picking Jokers and Managing Interest

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1. Play the tutorial run The first time you play, Jimbo, the game's mascot Joker, walks you through an example run screen by screen. Seeing where Chips and Mult add up saves a lot of confusion later.
2. Start with Red Deck on White Stake Red Deck is the first deck available and gives one extra discard per round. Stakes, the difficulty levels, unlock separately for each deck: beat the highest unlocked stake with a deck to open the next one for that deck. Your first goal is simply to win a White Stake run.
3. Count your hands and discards By default you get 4 hands, 3 discards and an 8-card hand each round. Discards are free draws, so use them to improve your hand before playing. Every unused hand pays $1 at the end of the round.
4. Commit to one poker hand Rather than playing whatever you draw, lean into one hand type early: Pairs, Flushes (five cards of one suit) or Straights (five cards in sequence). Once you know your hand, you can collect Planet cards and Jokers that support it.
5. Buy a Joker in the first shop According to the official wiki, the first shop of a run always includes a Buffoon Pack (a Joker pack). You start with 5 Joker slots, and simple flat Mult or Chips Jokers are what lift your score most in the early antes.
6. Level up your hand with Planets Planet cards permanently raise the base Chips and Mult of one poker hand for the rest of the run, with no level cap. Grabbing the Planet for your main hand is what keeps your score on pace in the middle antes.
7. Think twice before skipping Skipping a blind gives a Tag but costs you a shop visit and the blind reward. The official wiki's strategy note says playing each round is usually worth more than most Tags, so skip only for a Tag that is genuinely strong.
8. Check Run Info before the boss Before entering the Boss Blind, open Run Info to see which boss is coming. Some debuff a suit, others leave you with a single hand, and you can prepare for that in the shop.

• Aim for $25 for interestAt the end of a round you earn $1 of interest for every $5 you hold, capped at $5 by default, so money above $25 earns nothing extra. Holding around $25 and spending the rest balances economy and power.
• Know the blind rewardsAccording to the official wiki, the Small Blind pays $3, the Big Blind $4 and a Boss Blind $5, and the Small Blind pays nothing on Red Stake or higher. Leftover hands and interest come on top, so plan your spending around those numbers.
• Joker order mattersJokers trigger from left to right. Put Jokers that add Mult to the left of Jokers that multiply Mult (xMult), and the same set of Jokers will score noticeably higher.
• Do not over-rerollA reroll costs $5 at first, rises by $1 each time and resets in a new shop. It only replaces the two random cards, not the packs or the Voucher, so rerolling away your interest is usually a loss.
• Sell value is about halfJokers and consumables sell for roughly half their purchase price. When your slots are full, selling a weak Joker to make room for a stronger one is normal.
• Use your consumable slotsYou start with 2 consumable slots. Tarot cards improve playing cards, Planet cards level up hands; use them when they help instead of letting them sit.
• Use a hand as a discardWhen playing a hand that needs fewer than five cards, such as a Pair, add cards you do not need. The unscored cards leave your hand too and are replaced, clearing your hand without spending a discard.
• Higher hands always take priorityIf your cards form more than one hand, the game counts the higher-ranked one; four of a kind in a single suit is still Four of a Kind, not a Flush. The panel on the left shows the hand type as soon as you select cards.
• Watch the VoucherEvery shop has one Voucher, and it only restocks after you beat the Boss Blind. Vouchers that add a hand, a discard or an extra shop slot affect the whole run.
• Practise with seedsFrom the New Run screen you can enter a seed to replay the same card order and shops. According to the official wiki, seeded runs do not add discoveries to your collection or count towards score stats, so they are for learning, not progress.

• Mixing every hand type: Planet and Joker support gets spread thin and your score falls behind by the middle antes.
• Playing hands before using discards: discards are free draws, and unused discards pay nothing at the end of the round.
• Spending everything in the first antes: no interest builds up, and you cannot afford a strong Joker when one appears later.
• Collecting only Chips Jokers: score is a multiplication, and a build without Mult stops scaling.
• Walking into a Boss Blind without reading it: some bosses debuff a suit or face cards, and an unprepared boss fight ends runs.

This guide was written for version: This guide reflects the current version as of September 2026 (1.0.1o on the official wiki).

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