I played this game for 10 hours during the DEMO period. I bought it as soon as it was released on the 20th. I basically play it when I have free time. Now I have played the official version for more than 100 hours, which is really top-notch. The current highest result is that the yellow deck and the painting deck have reached the purple note. Originally, the decks were all formed and almost passed. But I was dizzy and didn't realize that the BOSS skill limit can only play the card once, and I died suddenly. I was so angry. The ground was stunned for ten seconds. Overall, this game is still like Texas Hold'em, where luck plays a big part. Even if all your strategies and playing methods are fine, the game just won't deal you the key cards, and you will die suddenly afterward - in some decks and high-level difficulties, this probability is quite high.
However, although luck is very important, the game itself is quite rich in strategic mechanisms and elements, making it very playable. Although failure is common, it is an interesting process to discover mechanisms that were not noticed step by step through thinking and exploration, as well as the different coordination between cards. I searched the Internet for guides, and it seems that there are only some basic introductions to the game, and there is no deeper exploration of the game mechanics. Here I will share some of my thoughts and opinions. Note: Due to space limitations, this article does not introduce the basic gameplay and knowledge of the game, but only introduces the lower-level mechanisms and ideas. You need to have a certain understanding of the game to read it better.
Section 1
Score Calculation The score calculation in "Balatro (Joker Card)" is based on Number of chips calculated using the formula. In the game, the number of chips is usually marked in blue as "+N chips", the cumulative multiplier is generally written as "+N multiplier", and the multiplier multiplier is written as "xN multiplier" (it is the same color as the cumulative multiplier in the game, but In order to facilitate the distinction here, I use green marking instead).
When players play a card type, they can obtain the corresponding "number of chips" and "cumulative multiplier" for that card type, while the "multiplier" can only be obtained through clown cards and card enchantment effects. Since it is directly increased several times on the original product, it is an important means to increase points in the later stage, but the effect is very limited when the basic points are low in the early stage. In addition, multiple "multipliers" are also calculated by multiplication. For example, when you trigger "x3 multiplier" twice, the effect is 3X3=9 times.
A common misconception among newcomers is that "playing a rare hand" is synonymous with "getting a high score", but in reality a "rare" hand simply provides a higher "stack" and "multiplier". And when you have a way to accumulate high stacks and multipliers through jokers or other methods, you can score high points with a normal hand. Therefore, do not be superstitious about a certain card type, otherwise it is easy to die.
Section 2: Score Composition
Balatro score calculations are complex, so while players can intuitively feel that "play" = "score", it's not clear exactly where the score comes from. Here I'm going to use an illustration to illustrate what exactly happens when we play a hand.
From the above diagram, we can clearly see that when we play a hand, there are actually three types of effects: the card type effect, the joker card effect, and the card itself effect. Our current round of scoring is actually determined by the accumulation of the three, not just by the hand type. Therefore, if the joker cards and cards themselves are strong enough, even ordinary cards can score a lot of points.
Generally speaking, though, our core focus is on the "hand". On the one hand, it's because "hand type" is at the heart of most effects - most joker effects need to be triggered by the corresponding hand type; On the other hand, it is because through the "star card upgrade" and "card type" is the most intuitive way to grow the score in the game.
Section 3: Score Growth
Once we have clarified the formula for calculating the score and how it is composed, we can further explore how to improve the score. As mentioned in the previous stage, our score for each round is divided into three parts - the card effect, the joker card effect, and the card itself effect. The conditions for the three are different and will be discussed separately here.
There are a total of 12 hand types in the game – 9 basic cards and 3 hidden hand types. When we use the corresponding "Planet Card", we can upgrade the hand type and increase the base score of the card. The initial score and growth value of different hand types are different, which can be divided into three categories according to the growth of "accumulation multiplier":
Weak chickens: high cards, pairs, two pairs. These three types of hands have a low base score, and each upgrade only increases less than 20 chips, as well as a +1 cumulative multiplier, the growth is very low, and it is not recommended to upgrade if there are other options.
Commonly used classes: three of a kind, gourd, straight, flush. Each upgrade of these four hands yields more than 20 chips (excluding flushes) and a +2 cumulative multiplier, making them the main targets for mid-game upgrades.
King class: four of a kind, five of a kind, straight flush, flush gourd, five of a kind. These five types of hands earn more than 30 chips per upgrade, as well as a +3 multiplier, which is the most growth-prone, but also extremely difficult to form.
Since there is no relevant data in the game, I have made a data table for your reference after the actual game statistics.