Balatro, released in early 2024, quickly became a global sensation, selling over 3.5 million copies and clinching three out of five nominations at the 2024 Game Awards. Its creative gameplay and virtually endless replayability have kept it a favorite among gamers. However, as players become more adept at mastering its mechanics, many seek new ways to enhance their gaming experience.
While mods are a popular choice for freshening up gameplay, some players might prefer using Balatro's built-in developer debug menu. This can be accessed with a few simple steps and button clicks, offering a way to experiment with dream Joker combinations without the hassle of searching for ideal seeds. Plus, using these cheats doesn't disable achievements, making them perfect for players who wish to avoid mods.
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How to Enable Cheats in Balatro
To unlock the Balatro debug menu and leverage its built-in cheats, players need the free, open-source software called 7-Zip. Once installed, navigate to the Balatro installation directory, typically found at C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\Balatro. If it's not there, locate Balatro in your Steam library, right-click, select "Manage," and then "Browse Local Files."
In the correct folder, right-click on Balatro.exe and choose to open the archive with 7-Zip. Depending on your operating system and 7-Zip settings, this option might be hidden under "Show More Options." After opening the archive, locate and open the file named conf.lua with a simple text editor like Notepad.
The final step involves changing the line _RELEASE_MODE = true to _RELEASE_MODE = false and saving the file. If you can't save directly, extract conf.lua to your desktop, make the change, and replace the original file with your modified copy. Once done, you can access the debug menu by holding the tab button while in-game.
To disable the debug menu, simply revert the _RELEASE_MODE parameter back to true in the conf.lua file.
How to Use the Debug Menu in Balatro
The Balatro cheats menu is user-friendly, with intuitive functions. To unlock items in your collection, hover over them and press 1 while the debug menu is active. To add any Balatro joker to your current game, hover over it and press 3. Although you start with a limit of five jokers, you can convert a joker into a negative by hovering over it in your hand and pressing Q four times, allowing you to use as many jokers as you want during a run.
All Balatro Cheats (Hold Tab to Open Menu)
| Cheat / Key | Effect |
|---|---|
| 1 | Unlock a Collectible (while hovering over it in the collection) |
| 2 | Discover a Collectible (while hovering over it in the collection) |
| 3 | Spawn a Collectible (while hovering over it in the collection) |
| Q | Change Joker Edition (while hovering over it in hand) |
| H | Isolate Background |
| J | Play Splash Animation |
| 8 | Toggle Cursor |
| 9 | Toggle All Tooltips |
| $10 | Adds $10 to Total |
| +1 Round | Increases the Round by 1 |
| +1 Ante | Increases the Ante by 1 |
| +1 Hand | Adds one additional Hand |
| +1 Discard | Adds one additional Discard |
| Boss Reroll | Rerolls the Boss |
| Background | Removes the Background |
| +10 Chips | Adds 10 Chips to Total |
| +10 Mult | Adds 10 Mult to Total |
| X2 Chips | Doubles Chip Total |
| X10 Mult | Increases the Mult by 10 |
| Win this Run | Completes the Current Run |
| Lose this Run | Ends the Current Run |
| Reset | Resets the Current Run |
| Jimbo | Makes Jimbo Appear |
| Jimbo Talk | Makes a Text Box Appear by Jimbo |
