Now that Balatro is out on mobile, I wanted to see what all the fuss was about. And while it’s a great game, its tutorial doesn’t do the best job of setting you up for the kind of success necessary to hook you. In my first few hours, though I was completing the objectives laid out, it felt like I was stumbling my way to success instead of achieving it through strategy. Onboarding was a bit too abrupt, focused on the barebones of how to play instead of blending that with tips on how to play effectively. With that in mind, here’s some useful info and tips on how to get started.

I was told there would be no math

In Balatro, the main gameplay loop is amassing enough poker chips to beat a set chip total called a blind. To do that, you must create the ideal poker hand that maximizes the number of chips you can earn. I think what I initially had so much trouble with was understanding how scoring worked. Numbers were flying at me, and I didn’t know what they meant or where they came from. Knowing how scoring works is critical to maximizing your chip-earning potential.

Each hand you play is assigned a simple math equation:

Total chips earned = chip value of cards x multiplier score.

The math equation is different for every type of poker hand, and the more powerful a hand is, the bigger the equation. You don’t have to remember hand hierarchies or their equation values — simply hitting the “Run Info” button will pull up a reference list. Now, here’s the important part: this math equation changes based on the cards you play and any modifiers you’ve earned. For example, the base equation for two pair is 20 chips x 2 multiplier score. If I play two queens and two 3s, I can figure out my score by adding the total chip value of my cards (10+10+3+3=26) to the equation’s chip value (20) and then multiplying that number by 2, equalling 92 chips.

I’m loath to admit how long it took me to understand what was going on, but once I figured it out, everything clicked. I finally got what it was that makes this game hard to put down. Some of these blinds require amassing thousands of chips, so the main point — and honestly the biggest fun factor — of Balatro is beefing up those equations and your cards as much as possible. Which brings me to the next tip.

Cash rules everything around me

I wish the game took more time to explain that, early on, money is everything. For each blind, you have a number of chances or hands to earn enough chips, and if you don’t like the cards in your hand, you have a number of opportunities to discard cards in hopes of getting better ones. You earn the most money by beating blinds in the least amount of hands and with the fewest discards as possible. There are other ways to earn money, too, with special cards and perks you can get. Once you unlock it, use the special deck that starts you off with an extra $10 instead of the regular $4. Look for the perk (called a “tag”) that gives you $25 for beating “boss blinds” — or harder blinds that introduce some kind of negative effect like lowering equation values while requiring you to earn abnormally high amounts of chips. Bank as much as you can, as early as you can in order to...

Shop till you drop

The amazing thing about Balatro is that it’s managed to effectively reproduce the thrill of opening loot boxes without needing to spend a single dime on microtransactions. At the end of every blind, you get to visit the shop where you buy cards that add to or modify your deck, vouchers that impart powerful perks like the ability to increase your hand size, or jokers that have all kinds of score-modifying abilities. Go for the jokers that increase bonuses every round based on meeting certain criteria so your scoring potential can grow exponentially. My most successful run featured a joker that added a +1 to my multiplier every time I didn’t play a face card. By the end of that run, I was scoring upwards of 10,000 chips from the weakest hands played with the cheapest cards. If you see jokers that don’t work with your strategy, don’t forget that you can spend money to reroll the shop for new ones.

Unlike most other roguelikes that let you keep some abilities or items when you die, when you fail a run at Balatro, all your special cards, vouchers, perks, and cash go away. You can’t take cash with you, so spend it.

Lastly, if you want to make sure you have a good time with Balatro...

Install an app blocker (seriously)

Runs in Balatro are short and seamless, making it trivial to get into a groove even after having to start over after a failed attempt. And if you’re an adult with responsibilities, that’s going to be a problem — especially on mobile. Three hours in real time feels like only 20 minutes, making Balatro the closest human beings have gotten to legitimate time travel. After wrapping up my first day with the game sometime around 5AM without feeling the slightest bit tired, I added it to my app blocker, setting it to cut off access every day at midnight. Those jokes about Balatro being a productivity problem aren’t that far off the mark, so if you want to try to get some sleep or work done, put guardrails in place so you can.