One Year, Four Balatros

Balatro wasn’t my Game of the Year in 2024, but it was without question the game I played the most and the one I’ll keep playing in the future.

I first played it in February on the recommendation of multiple colleagues who’d been sucked into its void. And then I ultimately bought it four times. (Thanks, Eleanor and Jak.)

I bought it on PlayStation first, figuring that was my lead platform for all games. But after getting sucked in myself, I realized that I’d need to play Balatro on a handheld device, so I got it on Switch. Then the game released on iOS and against my better judgment, I bought Balatro a third time for my iPhone and iPad. Finally, I deleted the game off of my phone and tablet to make it less accessible, and I got it on Steam for my laptop.

Since I bought the game four times, I have four different saves and stat lists that are in perfect sequential order as I got more familiar with the game. So you know me - I figured it might be fun to compare my progress across the four versions. (Notably, I played the PlayStation and Steam versions straight up, while I chose the option to unlock all of the content at the beginning in the Switch and iOS versions.)

So that’s all this post will be - screenshots of Balatro stat logs. If you somehow fall in the niche that would find this interesting, read on!

First up, we can check out my basic stats and win counts by platform (first is PlayStation, next is Switch, then iOS, and last is Steam):

Next up, my more advanced stats:

Here’s my most-used joker list for each platform:

Now, my most-used tarot cards:

And finally, my most-used planet cards:

If you’re still here, well, this sure was content. Hope it was worth your time. Balatro forever.