Fun truth – the time period “balatro” comes from historical Rome and refers to a skilled jester or buffoon. Considering you might be studying this on IGN proper now, there’s a robust likelihood that listening to “Balatro” as a substitute fills you with photographs of poker arms and Ben Starr wearing clown make-up as Jimbo, the star of final yr's breakout title that has taken the gaming world by storm (and was nominated for IGN's Game of the Year 2024).
Whether you’ve gotten spent hours within the game or are simply eager about leaping in and seeing what the hype is all about, the Nintendo Switch model of Balatro is at present $19.99 – down from $29.99 – as a half of Amazon’s Prime Day sale.
Balatro Special Edition (Switch)
In Balatro, you earn factors by taking part in numerous Poker arms in an effort to attain high enough to finish a string of ranges. The higher you do, the more money you must spend on upgrades. These upgrades can improve the bonuses you get from completely different sorts of arms, like two-of-a-kind or straights, augmenting your taking part in playing cards with particular properties.
The game's most infamous function is special Joker cards that impart distinctive multipliers relying on what playing cards you play. It sounds more sophisticated than it’s, and by the time you full a run or two, you’re going to get why this game is so widespread.
Made by a single developer, LocalThunk, Balatro has taken home quite a few awards because it first launched on Steam in February of final yr, and one of the most important indie game hits in latest memory. In our review, Simon Cardy stated, “Remarkably approachable with complex systems waiting for those willing to lose themselves to it, Balatro successfully assembles the infinitely fun gameplay loop that every great roguelike sets out to create.”
Whether you're a Balatro professional trying for a new platform to play the game on or simply trying for a new game on your Switch, I can't suggest this deal enough!
More Prime Day Deals
This yr's Prime Day sale options tons of discounts on physical games. We've rounded up our high picks for Nintendo Switch, PS5, and Xbox. For more, you’ll be able to try our checklist of the general best deals we’ve found for Prime Day so far.
You can save on a bunch of different Switch games for Prime Day as effectively, plus practically each class of merchandise at Amazon, in addition to Walmart and Best Buy of their own competing gross sales.
Scott White is a freelance contributor to IGN, aiding with tabletop video games and guide protection. Follow him on X/Twitter or Bluesky.