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  BALATRO  
a f an g a me b y Ma r ek J on es
 SETUP
Before playing, you will need:
1 standard playing card deck for every player, plus at least 1 more.
A number of Jokers equal to at least double the number of players.
1 Tarot card deck.
1 deck of cards from any other game, which will be the Bonus deck.
3 different colored chips to represent chip values of 1, 5, and 10.

Set aside all Jokers into a Joker deck.

From the Tarot deck set aside the Major Arcana 12+ into a Boss deck and shuffle it.
Shuffle the Tarot deck.
Shuffle all spare playing card decks into a Playing deck.
Each player shuffles their deck and takes 15 chips.
Place 1 chip from the bank onto a reference area as the Blind.
Place all unused chips in the bank.
Decide whether Ace cards will be high (treated as value above King), low (treated as value
below 2), or both.

PLAYING THE GAME

This game is played in repeating Tours of 3 pots: Small, Big, and Boss. For each pot, players
will ante in a number of chips, then try to win those chips back by playing high-scoring hands.
In between each pot is a shop, where players will spend chips to improve their scoring ability.

If a player ever can’t pay the ante to play in a pot, they are eliminated. The game may be played
either to the last player standing, or after an agreed upon number of Tours.

To start the game, play 1 intro pot with the ante covered for each player by the bank. Play a
shop afterwards and then play the remainder of the game in Tours as per the rules.

PLAYING A POT
First each player and the bank must pay an ante of chips into the pot prize pool, based on the
size of the pot and the Blind:
 Small Pot: Blind
 Big Pot: Blind x2
 Boss Pot: Blind + Chip of next highest value than highest chip in Blind.

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If this is a Boss pot, also flip over the next card in the Boss deck and apply its special Boss rule
to this pot.

Play proceeds in a series of rounds. At the start of each round, players draw until they have a
hand of 7 cards.

Players may then decide in secret an amount of cards to discard, then when all players are
ready they simultaneously discard that many cards and draw that same number. This is done a
number of times equal to the number of the current round in the pot.

After discards, each player selects up to 5 cards to play as their scoring hand for the round.
When all players are ready, they simultaneously play them face-up onto the table.

In descending order of highest ranked scoring played hand, players win a number of chips
from the prize pool up to the prize value of their hand, plus any modifiers.

If any chips remain in the prize pool, play continues in another round. Otherwise, players
return all their cards to their decks and play a shop.

If this was a Boss pot, add 1 chip to the Blind and convert the Blind into a single higher value
chip if possible; this starts a new Tour.

PLAYING A SHOP
Flip over the top card of the Tarot, Playing, Joker, and Bonus deck one time for each player
still in the game. In order starting with whoever has the fewest chips, each player may take
any of the flipped cards by paying chips equal to their (cost) amount to the bank. Playing cards
bought are added to the player’s deck. All other types of cards go into a separate stack called
the player’s Pocket, and apply their listed effect for the rest of the game.

When it’s their turn to play, a player may also return any of their Pocket cards to the bottom of
their respective deck to receive 1 chip from the bank.

After all players have had a turn in the shop, return any unbought cards to the bottom of their
respective shop deck. All players receive an interest payment of 1 chip from the bank for every
10 chips they still have.

All players shuffle their deck and may rearrange the cards in their Pocket however they wish.
Then proceed to the next pot.

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REFERENCES

Pot Scoring Shop

Rank Hands Prize Tarot Cards (2 chips)
11 Five of a kind +75000 Major Arcana: When you play a hand ranked the same
10 Royal Flush +400 as Arcana’s number, it’s treated as 1 rank higher.
Minor Arcana: +1 prize for each card of equivalent
9 Flush House +200
suit & value that is in your played hand.
8 Straight Flush +40
7 Four of a Kind +21 Bonus Cards (2 chips)
6 Full House +8 +1 prize when you have the highest hand in a round.
5 Flush +7
4 Straight +6 Jokers (2 chips)
Mimics the card immediately above it in the Pocket.
3 Three of a Kind +3
2 Two Pair +2 Playing Cards (1 chip)
1 One Pair +1 Add to your deck. Then you may put a card from your
0 High Card +0 deck into the shop.

Tiebreakers
1. Whoever has the most Major Arcana cards with the same rank as their played hand.
2. Whoever’s played cards have the most cards equivalent to their Minor Arcana cards.
3. Whoever has the most Bonus cards.
4. Whoever’s played hand has the highest total valued cards that make the hand.
5. Have each player cut their deck, higher valued card breaks tie.

Boss Rules
12 - The Hanged Man Hand size is reduced by 1.
13- Death Players discard 2 random cards after each round.
14 - Temperance Players must play 5 cards each round.
15- The Devil Players can’t discard.
16 - The Tower Hand prizes are reduced by 1 for each face card in them.
17 - The Star The bank antes for each player, instead of once.
18 - The Moon Players can’t look at every 7th card they draw until it’s played.
19 - The Sun Hand prizes are reduced to next lowest rank.
20 - Judgment After 1 round, distribute the remaining prize evenly to all players.
21 - The World Players can’t win anything with hands they’ve already played this pot.

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