Balatro: 11 Best Joker Cards To Unlock

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Some of the best cards in Balatro aren’t available at the start of the game — some cards you’ll have to earn. Jokers change the game and make earning more chips possible, and the right Jokers can completely change your run. If you want to crush Balatro and start scoring exponentially higher from your favorite hands, you’re going to want to unlock these cards.

There are more cards to unlock than just this — learn about how to upgrade Vouchers here or check out how to unlock the Plasma Deck.

Best Joker Cards | Unlock Conditions

• Brainstorm: Copies the ability of leftmost Joker.
  • How To Unlock: Discard a Royal Flush.

One of the best Joker Cards is also one of the most difficult to unlock — this one all comes down to luck. You’re better off experimenting and using your Discards in Ante 1, then resetting and trying again to earn a Royal Flush. The rarest hand in the deck might take farming to get, but this card is incredibly good.

• Blueprint: Copies ability of Joker to the right.
  • How To Unlock: Win 1 run.

The second copy Joker card is also extremely valuable and a lot easier to unlock. This card copies the Joker to the right — certain Boss Ante abilities can ruin the effect by moving your Jokers, but it’s still a valuable card you’ll want ASAP. Learn how to win a run here.

• Stuntman: +250 chips, -2 hand size.
  • How To Unlock: Earn at least 100,000,000 Chips in a Single Hand.

Another extremely difficult card, the Stuntman is possible with the right combination of Legendary Joker cards. You might want to check out our Best Seeds guide for help earning a ridiculously high chip score from a single hand.

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• Wee Joker: This Joker gains +8 Chips when each played 2 is scored.
  • How To Unlock: Win a run in 18 or fewer rounds.

A powerful Joker that turns your 2s into useful cards. This is another tricky win — you’ll need to skip Blinds and hope for the best. Only recommended for advanced Balatro players. Or players with a really, really good seed.

• Bloodstone: 1 in 2 chance for played cards with Heart Suit to give x1.5 Mult when scored.
  • How To Unlock: Have at least 30 Hearts in your deck.

There’s a Joker card for all four suits similar to this — you’ll need 30+ cards of that suit in your deck. Buy every Tarot Booster Pack and change as many cards to the same suit as you can. If you complete a full run and focus on that, you’ll be able to unlock this card.

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• The Idol: Each played [rank] and [suit] gives x2 Mult when scored. Card changes every round.
  • How To Unlock: In one hand, earn at least 1,000,000 Chips.

Not as difficult to earn as Stuntman, but still very challenging for beginners. Get a great seed with Legendary Joker cards and you’re bound to eventually unlock The Idol. The challenge with the Idol is that the played Rank / Suit card is randomly selected every round, so you can’t build an easy strategy around it. Still, a very useful card.

• The Family: x4 Mult if played hand contains a Four of a Kind.
  • How To Unlock: Win a run without using Four of a Kind.

Another tricky one that’s actually not that tricky if you’re paying attention. Four of a Kind is a relatively rare hand and it is possible to complete a run accidentally without using it once. But this card also makes a Four of a Kind build even better.

• The Trio: x3 Mult if hand played contains a Three of Kind.
  • How To Unlock: Win a run without playing a Three of a Kind.

Just like Four of a Kind but more viable — completing a run is a lot trickier, but if you focus on other types of builds — especially Two Pair hands, Straights or Flushes, you’re a lot less likely to accidentally play a Three of a Kind. This card is also, for my money, even better than The Family. The multiplier is lower but the chances of getting it are astronomically higher.

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• The Tribe: x2 Mult if played hand contains a Flush.
  • How To Unlock: Win a run without playing a Flush.

Again, an even trickier useful card to unlock, but if you focus on Straights or High Card, you’re not going to bother with scoring Flushes. A great card for Flush focused card sharks.

• Invisible Joker: After 2 rounds, sell this card to Duplicate a random Joker. Removes Negative Status cards
  • How To Unlock: Win a game while never having more than four Jokers.

An extremely tough card to unlock and one that doesn’t seem that useful — but if you use it while holding one Joker in your deck — you’ll copy the only Joker. This is how you make additional copies of Legendary Joker cards. Incredibly useful.

• Shoot The Moon: Each Queen held in hand gives +13 Mult.
  • How To Unlock: Play every Heart card in your deck in one round.

A card that sounds trickier than it actually is — destroy as many Heart cards as you can so you only have a handful, and you’ll make earning this Joker a lot easier.

• Bootstraps: +2 Mult for every $5 you have.
  • How To Unlock: Have at last two Polychrome Jokers at the same time.

Polychrome is an extremely rare effect, so your best bet for earning this is through a good seed. Or by copying a Polychrome Joker with the Invisible Joker card. That’s always another option.

And that’s 11 cards we think you need to unlock in Balatro. Let us know your favorite cards and best strategies — because we’re plowing through one of the best games of 2024 in 2025.