I’m not sure what it is with Balatro. Everyone seems to enjoy it so much.
I eagerly waited for its iOS release, and downloaded it first day, but after 3 or 4 games, I was so ‘meh’ on it, that I never returned to it… Anyone else?
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Kind of. My problem was that I felt like I was getting better for 5-10 runs, then just … stopped. Clearly, there’s a way to move on from where I ended up, but it didn’t hook me enough to keep trying to find it, so I just went back to Dawncaster.
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I’m sorry Balatro didn’t hit for you—I’ve certainly hyped it up as much as anyone on this site—but I’m sure we all have our games that we thought were going to be great and just didn’t excite us as much as we thought they might. Ironically, Dawncaster is one of those games for me. I love deck builders, especially on mobile, I usually agree with most of you when you recommend games … and I’m just lukewarm on that one. No idea why. Disappointed that’s the case and feel like I’m missing something.
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Exactly, your last sentence! The feeling that there must be more to it that I might have missed. Regarding Balatro I just did not get the fun in all the randomness. My brain tells me: it’s a game with minimal skill, which grants you better and better upgrades the more you play it ‘Full stop’ . But maybe, like @rinelk I should’ve played more games to get a different, more attractive feeling towards the game, but no comment I’ve read about it, neither here nor elsewhere, implied that… Just that people are hooked on it almost instantly.
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Balatro just went down to $9.99 on Switch–the lowest price it’s ever been on that console.
Had to search for this thread because I need to brag … Balatro’s Black Deck has been a pain in the ass the whole time I’ve had the game. Having an extra joker would be nice if it didn’t come at the cost of one fewer hand to play every round. It’s been so long since I beat it on purple stake that I can’t remember how I did it, nor can I remember the number of losses I’ve taken on gold stake. But I finally beat it, and I’m never playing this stupid deck again.
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Nice work. As I think I’ve mentioned, I only started Balatro relatively recently but gold stake is killing me. I’ve beaten every deck on white and have gone back to the start, so I’m currently on red deck, gold stake, and it’s been a struggle. Hats off you you for managing it.
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Thanks! To be fair, I’ve managed this by obsessively playing the game for a ridiculous amount of time and failing repeatedly at the higher stakes. Had about 150 hours in the PC version and have played untold hours on mobile since that version released. I’ve played 15 hours this week alone—it’s probably good iOS doesn’t track total playtime.
Within a couple of runs of posting that, I beat my first gold stake!
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Been revisiting Balatro lately too - I have decent progress in red and blue but am thinking maybe doing the base in each deck is the way to go?
What I did is play through on white stake, playing every new deck as I unlocked. I would occasionally do specific things to unlock cards (like discard a royal flush) if they came around at an opportune time, other things I unlocked through pure luck and repeated plays. Then I went back to the red deck to work my way up each stake. There are some unlocks that are going to take specific effort and I might work on them now. For example, I have two locked tarot cards that I assume are for a royal flush and for a five of a kind, and I assume I have to win a round with that hand while holding a card with a blue chip - that’s specific and not easy and I might tackle things like those next.
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Some of the Ascension achievements look a little ridiculous. Right off the bat in the first set there is some achievement for taking 5 turns in a row with just the base set. The circumstances required for that to happen are quite improbable.
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After looking through the Ascension achievements, I decided to give them all another go and I have now gotten every one of them. It was a fun challenge and some made you rethink the way you might normally play.
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Seeing this thread and all the Balatro stuff reminded me of going through that game earlier this year/late last year. It was fun, but at the same time it almost felt like a sickness. Something I had to purge myself of to get better because it had such a hold on me. Ever since I finished all the stuff I haven’t been back to it. Whereas with games like Dream Quest I still do a run or two on occasion even with nothing left to accomplish.
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I am in Vegas for an annual dudes trip this weekend, going home in a few hours.
We have a ritual where we go to the Westgate Superbook on Sunday when here and bet on football all day.
My buddies are all into football and bet all sorts of props and stuff and do ok.
I bet $50 on the over on all 11 day games yesterday because I don’t know football well and just cheering for scoring is fun.
I hit 10 of 11 overs yesterday!
skillz!
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My story isn’t as good, but the sentiment is similar.
I grew up in Nevada, so sports betting is as common as oxygen. But when mobile sports betting arrived (2013, I think), it was a pretty big deal.
Anyway … on like the second day it was legalized by Gaming Control, I made a $200 deposit with William Hill. And, 12 years later, I am placing sports bets on the same $200. I’ve never had to add money.
I’m not a super-serious bettor; I mostly just like having some action out there. I figure I’ve stretched that deposit pretty well, so far.
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