Fun fact – the term “balatro” comes from ancient Rome and refers to a professional jester or buffoon. Considering you are reading this on IGN right now, there’s a strong chance that hearing “Balatro” instead fills you with images of poker hands and Ben Starr dressed in clown make-up as Jimbo, the star of last year's breakout title that has taken the gaming world by storm (and was nominated for IGN's Game of the Year 2024).
Whether you have spent hours in the game or are just interested in jumping in and seeing what the hype is all about, the Nintendo Switch version of Balatro is currently $19.99 – down from $29.99 – as a part of Amazon’s Prime Day sale.
Balatro Special Edition (Switch)
In Balatro, you earn points by playing various Poker hands in an effort to score high enough to complete a string of levels. The better you do, the more money you have to spend on upgrades. These upgrades can improve the bonuses you get from different kinds of hands, like two-of-a-kind or straights, augmenting your playing cards with special properties.
The game's most notorious feature is special Joker cards that impart unique multipliers depending on what cards you play. It sounds more complicated than it is, and by the time you complete a run or two, you will get why this game is so popular.
Made by a single developer, LocalThunk, Balatro has taken home numerous awards since it first released on Steam in February of last year, and one of the biggest indie game hits in recent memory. In our review, Simon Cardy said, “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 pro looking for a new platform to play the game on or just looking for a new game on your Switch, I can't recommend this deal enough!
More Prime Day Deals
This year's Prime Day sale features tons of discounts on physical games. We've rounded up our top picks for Nintendo Switch, PS5, and Xbox. For more, you can check out our list of the overall best deals we’ve found for Prime Day so far.
You can save on a bunch of other Switch games for Prime Day as well, plus nearly every category of item at Amazon, as well as Walmart and Best Buy in their own competing sales.
Scott White is a freelance contributor to IGN, assisting with tabletop games and guide coverage. Follow him on X/Twitter or Bluesky.
