Balatro is receiving its inaugural major update

Balatro has quickly become one of the most talked-about releases of the year. This roguelike deck builder has captivated gamers everywhere. Despite encountering initial problems on the Switch, including a temporary removal from the eShop, the game has made a triumphant comeback and has now surpassed one million copies sold across all platforms.

Now, it appears that the surprise hit is about to receive its highly anticipated first major update. While it is currently confirmed for the PC, it is anticipated that a console release will be forthcoming. The latest update (Version 1.0.1) introduces a range of new features, adjustments, enhancements, and bug fixes.

Introducing Balatro, Version 1.0.1 Patch Notes:

• Added toggle for ‘Reduced Motion’, removing the swirly background and gyrating card motion
• Changed default fallback tarot from Fool to Strength (when all tarots are on screen)
• Changed Gold Stake random seeds now ensures that the first Legendary Joker on that seed is a Joker that you have not won with on Gold Stake (For Completionist++ hunting)
• Changed ante scaling in white stake:
  • Ante 3: 2800 -> 2000
  • Ante 4: 6000 -> 5000
• Changed ante scaling in green stake:
  • Ante 2: 1000 -> 900
  • Ante 3: 3200 -> 2400
  • Ante 4: 9000 -> 7000
• Changed ante scaling in purple stake:
  • Ante 2: 1200 -> 1000
  • Ante 3: 3600 -> 3000
  • Ante 4: 10000 -> 8000
  • Ante 5: 25000 -> 22000
• Changed Orange Stake
  • Scrapped increasing pack cost
  • Added new ‘Perishable’ mechanic: Jokers have a 30% chance to have a ‘Perishable’ sticker, disabling them after 5 rounds
• Changed Gold Stake
  • Scrapped: -1 hand size
  • Added new ‘Rental’ mechanic: Jokers have a 30% chance to have a ‘Rental’ sticker (stacks with eternal/perishable), making them cost $1 up front and $3 every round
• Changed forever to apply to Jokers in Buffoon packs
• Changed the first shop in every run to always include a normal Buffoon pack as one of the pack options
• Upcoming blinds and tags can now be seen in the shop immediately after defeating a boss blind/cashing out
• Some Blinds are now be banned on challenge runs: Crimson Heart, Verdant Leaf and Amber Acorn on ‘Jokerless’; Verdant Leaf on ‘Typecast’; Verdant Leaf on ‘Non-Perishable’; and The Plant on ‘Mad World’
• Buffed Saturn
  • Now gives +3 mult instead of +2 mult for Straights
• Buffed Neptune
  • Now gives +4 mult instead of +3 mult for Straight Flush
• Buffed Eris
  • Now gives +50 chips instead of +40 chips for Flush Five
• Buffed Ceres
  • Now gives +4 mult instead of +3 mult for Flush House
• Changed Uncommon tag: Now makes the uncommon joker free
• Changed Rare tag: Now makes the rare joker free
• Negative, Polychrome, Holo, and Foil tags all make their respective joker free
• Changed Investment to give $25 instead of $15
• Changed 8 Ball: scrapped old effect, new effect: 1 in 4 chance to spawn a tarot when any played 8 is scored
• The changed blue seal now creates the planet card of the final poker hand played during the round
• Changed both Mad and Clever Joker: the scrapped ‘contains 4 of a kind’ effect now applies instead to any hand that contains a ‘Two Pair’
• Changed Yorick: scrapped old effect, new effect: gains X1 for every 23 cards discarded (starts at X1)
• Changed Magician Tarot: now applies lucky to 2 cards instead of 1
• Changed Midas Mask: now only applies Gold enhancement to scoring face cards, costs $7; was $6
• Changed Vampire
  • now only removes enhancement from scoring cards
  • gives X0.1 mult per enhancement instead of X0.2 mult
  • Rare instead of Uncommon
• Changed Madness now only applies on small and big blinds, not to boss blind selection
• Changed To Do List: The poker hand no longer changes on payout; it always changes at end of round (won’t get stuck on Straight Flush)
• Changed description of Shortcut to include a more apt example (10, 8, 6, 5, 3)
• Changed Ancient Joker: The selected suit is no longer able to repeat between rounds
• Changed Swashbuckler: Now adds sell value of all other Jokers to Mult, not just the Jokers to the left
• Changed Hanging Chad: Now it triggers the first played card twice instead of once
• Changed Flower Pot: Now includes the base suit of debuffed cards when determining if it will trigger
• Changed Bootstraps to include current mult bonus in description
• Changed all 4 Sinful Jokers (one for each suit)—they now each give +3 mult per suit instead of +4 mult
• Changed Banner: now gives +30 chips per remaining discard instead of +40 chips
• Changed Fibonacci: It costs $8 instead of $7 because Fibonacci
• Changed Steel Joker: Now gives X0.2 mult per Steel card in full deck instead of X0.25 mult
• Changed Odd Todd: Now gives +31 chips per odd-ranked card instead of +30 chips
• Changed Sixth Sense: Now uncommon and $6, was rare
• Changed Hiker: Now gives +5 chips to every scoring card played instead of +4 chips
• Changed Gros Michel: Now has a 1 in 6 chance to go extinct instead of 1 in 4
• Changed Seance: Now uncommon and $6, was rare and $7
• Changed Riff-Raff: Now $6, was $4
• Changed Vagabond
  • Rare was uncommon
  • $8 was $6
  • It applies when you have $4 or less, or $3 or less
• Changed Cloud 9: Now $7, was $6
• Changed Mail-In Rebate: Now $5 was $3
• Changed Reserved Parking: Now common, was uncommon
• Changed Lucky Cat: Now gains X0.25 per lucky proc, was X0.2
• Changed Trading card: Now costs $6, was $5
• Changed Campfire: Now gains X0.25 per card sold; was X0.5
• Changed Smily Face: Now give +5 mult per face card; was +4 mult
• Changed Golden Ticket: Now pays out $4 per gold card played; was $3
• Changed Bloodstone: Now has a 1 in 2 chance to proc, was 1 in 3
• Changed Onyx Agate: Now gives +7 mult per club card; it was +8 mult
• Changed Glass Joker: Now gives X0.75 mult per glass card destroyed, was X0.5 mult
• Changed Stuntman: Now gives +250 Chips, was +300
• Changed Invisible Joker: Now requires 2 rounds and costs $8; it was 3 rounds and $10
• Changed Burnt Joker: Now is rare, was uncommon
• Changed wording on most scaling jokers to refer to ‘this joker’
• Fixed bug where opening a booster pack with hand size of 0 was unskippable
• Fixed bug where the card generated by ‘Certificate’ was not being debuffed by the boss

If you haven’t had the chance to experience this game yet and happen to have a fondness for deckbuilders and card games, I highly recommend giving it a try. In our review of Nintendo Life, we awarded the game a perfect score of 10 out of 10 stars, deeming it a strong contender for Game of the Year.