[00:00] SPEAKER: Since its release, Balatro has taken the industry by storm, becoming a fan favorite and etching itself as an instant classic in the rogue-like genre.
[00:08] (Visual: Donuts being glazed on a conveyor belt.)
[00:08] SPEAKER: And you're about to hear me glaze this game for the next ten minutes or so.
[00:12] (Visual: A grid of Balatro joker cards.)
[00:12] SPEAKER: Whether it's the clever references or just elements of the game that put a smile on my face, here are 28 tiny details that make Balatro a masterpiece.
[00:20] (Visual: A menu screen showing multiple pages of Balatro joker cards.)
[00:20] SPEAKER: Balatro's art style is very particular, and everything is on purpose.
[00:25] (Visual: The "Black Hole" spectral card, with red arrows pointing to its sides.)
[00:25] SPEAKER: If you take a look at the Black Hole spectral card, you'll notice that the sides are being sucked in. And that's because there's a black hole in the middle pulling it in.
[00:33] (Visual: A menu screen showing various "Planet" cards.)
[00:33] SPEAKER: The details get even crazier if you look closely at the Planet cards.
[00:37] (Visual: Close-up of "Mercury," "Venus," "Earth," and "Mars" cards, with a spotlight highlighting the top of the cards.)
[00:37] SPEAKER: You'll notice each Planet card has its position in the solar system highlighted at the top, except for the five-of-a-kind Planet card.
[00:43] (Visual: The "Planet X" card, which is broken and has no highlighted position.)
[00:43] SPEAKER: Which is supposed to represent a rogue planet, which doesn't belong to any solar system and is just a big rock floating on its own in space.
[00:51] (Visual: The "Ceres" card, with a red arrow pointing to the highlighted dots at the top.)
[00:51] SPEAKER: If you look at the Ceres Planet card, which is a dwarf planet, it has these dots highlighted, which is in between Jupiter and Mars.
[00:56] (Visual: An animation of the solar system, with a red arrow pointing to the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter.)
[00:58] (Visual: An asteroid belt in space.)
[01:01] (Visual: The "Ceres" card, showing asteroids surrounding the planet.)
[01:01] SPEAKER: This is supposed to represent the asteroid belt where Ceres is located, and the artwork also shows asteroids surrounding the dwarf planet.
[01:05] (Visual: The "Eris" card, with a red arrow pointing to the highlighted dots beyond Pluto.)
[01:05] SPEAKER: The same thing applies with Eris, which is another dwarf planet that is located beyond Pluto. And this is represented at the top as well.
[01:11] (Visual: A menu screen showing multiple pages of Balatro joker cards.)
[01:11] SPEAKER: But what I really like about some of the artwork is how it's basically a nod to its own ability and name.
[01:18] (Visual: The "Brainstorm" joker card, depicting a rough sketch of a joker on a napkin.)
[01:18] SPEAKER: For example, Brainstorm, which depicts a rough sketch of a joker on a napkin, basically showing what someone brainstorming a joker would look like.
[01:26] (Visual: The "Brainstorm" card with circles highlighting the two leftmost bobbles and the left eye.)
[01:26] SPEAKER: And because Brainstorm copies the most left joker, the two most left bobbles and the left eye are circled.
[01:32] (Visual: Split screen showing the "Blueprint" joker card on the left and the "Brainstorm" card on the right.)
[01:32] SPEAKER: Just like how the Blueprint Joker is looking to the right because it copies a joker to the right.
[01:37] (Visual: The "Cloud 9" joker card, showing a number nine made of clouds.)
[01:37] SPEAKER: Another artwork Easter egg that I thought was really cool was on Cloud 9, which shows a nine that's made out of clouds, surrounded by other clouds. And if you count all the clouds on the card, there's nine of them.
[01:48] (Visual: The "Stuntman" joker card, showing a joker in a motorcycle helmet.)
[01:48] SPEAKER: But there's also jokers that are named based on their ability. Now, none of these are confirmed, but I like to think that the abilities of these jokers are the reasons why they have their name.
[01:57] (Visual: The "Stuntman" card.)
[01:57] SPEAKER: Stuntman gives you minus two hands. And this might be because real-life stuntmen will do tricks on bikes without using their hands.
[02:05] (Visual: The "Hanging Chad" joker card, showing a ballot with a partially punched hole.)
[02:05] SPEAKER: The Hanging Chad Joker retriggers the first card twice because during the 2000 US presidential election, people submitted votes by punching a hole into a piece of paper, and the paper from this hole is referred to as a chad.
[02:17] (Visual: A man examining a punch card with a magnifying glass.)
[02:17] SPEAKER: But there were so many votes where the chad wasn't fully removed from the paper, and it was left kind of hanging there.
[02:23] (Visual: Two men examining punch cards.)
[02:23] SPEAKER: This was very controversial at the time, and people were saying that the votes with the hanging chad shouldn't count, and they were forced to recount all the votes multiple times.
[02:33] (Visual: The "Hanging Chad" card with the "O" partially punched.)
[02:33] SPEAKER: Which in essence is why the Hanging Chad Joker retriggers because they had to recount the votes.
[02:39] (Visual: The "Gros Michel" joker card, showing a banana.)
[02:39] SPEAKER: Now, the Hanging Chad Joker isn't the only joker based on a historic event. The whole process of a Gros Michel Joker going from a Cavendish Joker was based on real history as well.
[02:47] (Visual: A man holding a banana.)
[02:47] SPEAKER: Originally, the Gros Michel banana made up the majority of bananas people would consume.
[02:51] (Visual: Split screen showing a diseased banana on the left and a healthy banana on the right.)
[02:51] SPEAKER: But after a disease by the name of Fusarium Wilt completely destroyed these bananas, society switched over to Cavendish bananas.
[02:58] (Visual: A crate of Cavendish bananas.)
[03:00] (Visual: The "Gros Michel" card exploding and transforming into the "Cavendish" card.)
[03:00] SPEAKER: Much like how the Gros Michel banana must go extinct first before you have access to the Cavendish.
[03:04] (Visual: Balatro gameplay showing the "Gros Michel" joker being removed and the text "Extinct" appearing.)
[03:04] SPEAKER: And that's why it says extinct whenever the Gros Michel Joker gets removed from your joker lineup.
[03:09] (Visual: Balatro gameplay showing the "Popcorn" joker being removed and the text "Eaten!" appearing.)
[03:09] SPEAKER: And that's another small detail I love. For every consumable and edible joker, they have a unique text pop-up when they run out of fumes. The Popcorn, Bean, and Ramen Joker will all say eaten when they're getting deleted.
[03:22] (Visual: Balatro gameplay showing the "Seltzer" joker being removed and the text "Drank" appearing.)
[03:22] SPEAKER: The Seltzer Joker will say drank after ten hands.
[03:26] (Visual: Balatro gameplay showing the "Ice Cream" joker being removed and the text "Melted" appearing.)
[03:26] SPEAKER: And the Ice Cream Joker will say melted once it's finished.
[03:28] (Visual: The "Spare Trousers" joker card.)
[03:28] SPEAKER: The Spare Trousers Joker gives you more mult for every hand that contains a two pair. If you think about it in real life, having spare trousers basically means you have two pairs of pants.
[03:39] (Visual: The "Scholar" joker card, showing a joker in a graduation cap with an A+.)
[03:39] SPEAKER: Now, the Scholar Joker goes a little deeper. It gives you more mult and chips for aces because if you are a scholar, you typically ace tests.
[03:44] (Visual: A test paper with an A+ grade.)
[03:48] (Visual: The "Scholar" card with "+4 Mult" and "+20 Chips" displayed.)
[03:48] SPEAKER: But also more specifically, he gives you plus four mult and 20 chips for every ace. Four mult, 20 chips, 420.
[03:55] (Visual: The "Scholar" card with a lit joint superimposed over it.)
[03:55] SPEAKER: And aces can be considered low, but more importantly in this case, aces can also be considered high.
[04:01] (Visual: Four "Rare" joker cards, each with a different color scheme.)
[04:01] SPEAKER: Another very cool detail with the joker artwork is the color coordination between the five rare jokers that revolve around the playing hands and their common joker counterpart.
[04:09] (Visual: Eight joker cards, showing the common and rare versions side-by-side.)
[04:09] SPEAKER: You'll notice the color schemes on the rare jokers match the ones on their common versions.
[04:15] (Visual: A grid of various joker cards.)
[04:15] SPEAKER: And the last thing about the joker artwork that I'm going to talk about that I really love is that it's mandatory for every joker to have joker written out on it.
[04:23] (Visual: The "To Do List" joker card, with "Joker" spelled out by the first letter of each item.)
[04:23] SPEAKER: Even if it's unsuspecting like in To Do List, where the first letter of each word spells out joker.
[04:29] (Visual: Five "Legendary" joker cards, each with a historical joker's name.)
[04:29] SPEAKER: And although it doesn't say joker on any of the legendary cards, the names of actual jokers in history are written because they became legends in their own right, having their name etched in history. It makes sense that their actual names are written on these legendary cards.
[04:43] (Visual: The "Blank Voucher" card.)
[04:43] SPEAKER: Now I want to move on to actual aspects of the game that make it so fun and replayable. Starting off small, I want to talk about the Blank Voucher.
[04:51] (Visual: Balatro gameplay showing the "Blank Voucher" in the shop.)
[04:51] SPEAKER: The first time I ever came across it and saw that it literally does nothing but cost $10, had me confused.
[04:58] (Visual: A man looking confused with question marks around his head.)
[04:58] SPEAKER: I ended up buying it and was waiting for something cool to happen. But there was nothing.
[05:02] (Visual: The Balatro collection screen, showing the "Blank Voucher" and a locked "Antimatter Voucher.")
[05:02] SPEAKER: Come later I find out, you need to buy it ten times before unlocking its counterpart, the Antimatter Voucher.
[05:09] (Visual: The "Antimatter Voucher" card.)
[05:09] SPEAKER: Which is arguably the best voucher in the game, giving you an extra joker slot. And this was honestly a beautiful metaphor for life.
[05:16] (Visual: A man jogging on a rooftop with a city skyline.)
[05:16] SPEAKER: Sometimes you're going to have to sacrifice a lot, and although it may seem like the sacrifice is for nothing, it'll actually lead to something great.
[05:23] (Visual: A man looking out at a city skyline.)
[05:23] SPEAKER: So for anyone chasing a goal or dream, and you feel like it's not worth it, just keep at it because one day something good will come from it.
[05:31] (Visual: A woman lifting weights.)
[05:31] SPEAKER: Even though it may not feel like it right now.
[05:33] (Visual: A YouTube channel page for "Roze" showing Balatro videos.)
[05:33] SPEAKER: Speaking of chasing dreams, I've always wanted to be able to spend all my time making videos for you guys to enjoy. So if you like my stuff, hit that subscribe button to show your support. I appreciate it.
[05:43] (Visual: Balatro gameplay showing a high score with flames.)
[05:43] SPEAKER: The next thing I want to talk about is the flames that show up over the score. Whenever you score a hand so high it flat out beats the whole ante score, flames appear over the numbers, which is such a satisfying but smart way to show that you absolutely destroyed it.
[05:57] (Visual: Balatro gameplay showing a high score with flames.)
[05:57] SPEAKER: After playing for so many hours, it's become a good litmus test in higher antes to see if I can beat the score with ease. And it's gone to a point where if I don't see the fire, I know I'm usually in trouble.
[06:07] (Visual: Balatro gameplay showing "Endless Mode" button after winning a run.)
[06:07] SPEAKER: My next favorite aspect of the game is Endless Mode. The first time I ever beat a run in Balatro, I remember thinking to myself, man, I have such a good build. I wish I could keep playing to see how far it goes.
[06:18] (Visual: Balatro gameplay showing "Endless Mode" button after winning a run.)
[06:18] SPEAKER: And I was surprised to see the big blue Endless Mode button pop up, meaning I could carry out my run even further to see what it's capable of.
[06:26] (Visual: Balatro gameplay in Endless Mode.)
[06:26] SPEAKER: And at this point, my mind was running with endless possibilities of what I could do to make that number go as high as possible. But this got me thinking, how high could I actually score? What's the limit?
[06:39] (Visual: Balatro gameplay showing the "naneinf" score.)
[06:39] SPEAKER: And as I learned more about the game, I learned about the elusive naneinf score, which is the absolute limit for what you can get in this game.
[06:46] (Visual: Balatro gameplay showing the "naneinf" score.)
[06:46] SPEAKER: Naneinf is around E308, meaning you need to score really, really high. And the creator of the game, LocalThunk, never really thought about people getting to this number.
[06:57] (Visual: Text overlay: "naneinf" with arrows pointing to "not a number" and "e ∞".)
[06:57] SPEAKER: Naneinf stands for "not a number" to the power of infinity, which is actually an error message because the game can't compute a number that big.
[07:04] (Visual: Balatro gameplay showing the "naneinf" score.)
[07:04] SPEAKER: And instead of fixing this error, LocalThunk let it become an iconic part of the game. And now it's become a staple in the Balatro community. It's beautiful to see that an accidental error was intentionally left unfixed just because it makes it all the more special.
[07:18] (Visual: Balatro gameplay showing card selection and scoring.)
[07:18] SPEAKER: Another aspect of the game that gets my endorphins going is the sound design. I personally don't think I will ever get sick of hearing that satisfying click whenever I select a card. And it just matches so perfectly.
[07:29] (Visual: Balatro gameplay showing card selection and scoring.)
[07:29] SPEAKER: I don't think a better job could have been done when it comes to this. It reinforces the game's addictive feedback loop without ever becoming overwhelming.
[07:38] (Visual: Balatro gameplay showing card selection and scoring.)
[07:38] SPEAKER: The sounds escalate in intensity as your score climbs, creating a sense of momentum and excitement that mirrors the escalating stakes of the run.
[07:46] (Visual: A black and white photo of a man.)
[07:46] SPEAKER: But let's talk about the actual music in the game, which is created by a freelance music producer by the name of Louis F, who was contacted on Fiverr by LocalThunk to create this brilliant soundtrack.
[07:53] (Visual: A Fiverr review from "localthunk" praising Louis F's work.)
[07:53] SPEAKER: And since then, it's become absolutely iconic.
[07:59] (Visual: A YouTube playlist of Balatro music remixes.)
[07:59] SPEAKER: There's been multiple different versions created by fans, spanning across almost every genre you can think of.
[08:06] (Visual: A YouTube video playing "Balatro but it's Take Five" (Jazz Balatro).)
[08:06] SPEAKER: We have Jazz Balatro.
[08:14] (Visual: A YouTube video playing "Balatro theme but you're at the disco" (Disco Balatro).)
[08:14] SPEAKER: We have Disco Balatro.
[08:24] (Visual: A YouTube video playing "Main Theme (Balatro) - Gabmetal Remix" (Metal Balatro).)
[08:24] SPEAKER: We even have Metal Balatro.
[08:41] (Visual: An orchestra performing the Balatro theme at The Game Awards 2024.)
[08:41] SPEAKER: I could keep going. I mean, people really like this soundtrack and it shows. Not to mention the medley that was put together at The Game Awards in 2024, where the keytarist went absolutely crazy, playing the main chords that everyone recognizes.
[09:09] (Visual: A keytarist playing at The Game Awards.)
[09:09] SPEAKER: I literally floated on my chair the first time I heard this.
[09:13] (Visual: A news article headline: "LocalThunk says Balatro doesn't have microtransactions 'because when I play other games that have those things it makes me want to put my computer in the dishwasher'.")
[09:13] SPEAKER: And the last thing I absolutely love about this game is the fact that LocalThunk himself stated that he'll never add any in-game purchases the way that these triple-A games do, like FIFA or Call of Duty. He doesn't want to tarnish the essence of the game by polluting it with money-grabbing tactics like these greedy corporations do.
[09:30] (Visual: A news article headline: "LocalThunk says Balatro doesn't have microtransactions 'because when I play other games that have those things it makes me want to put my computer in the dishwasher'.")
[09:30] SPEAKER: And let's be real, Balatro fans, including myself, would definitely be willing to drop more money in this game, meaning more profit for LocalThunk. But he values his game so much that no amount of money could get him to ruin Balatro with in-game purchases.
[09:42] (Visual: A person opening a physical deck of Balatro playing cards.)
[09:42] SPEAKER: But LocalThunk, if you are listening, feel free to drop some real-life booster packs. I would love to spend money and start collecting these jokers in real life. It would be even cooler if some of them came polychrome so they're even more rare. I mean, I know it's going to seem like money-grabbing, but I honestly don't care. Just do it. I'll give you my money. Please.
[10:03] (Visual: A grid of Balatro joker cards.)
[10:03] SPEAKER: And if you want to learn more about the references and meanings behind the jokers in Balatro, click the video on the screen right now. Okay, that's the end of the video. Thank you guys for watching.