Cheating Unveiled in Balatro: Debug Menu Secrets Revealed

Balatro, the 2024 breakout hit selling over 3.5 million copies and winning multiple Game Awards, maintains immense popularity due to its innovative gameplay and high replayability. However, seasoned players might seek ways to revitalize their experience. While mods offer one solution, accessing Balatro's built-in developer debug menu provides an alternative, allowing for cheat usage without impacting achievements.

Quick Links

• Enabling Cheats in Balatro

• Utilizing the Balatro Debug Menu

How to Enable Cheats in Balatro

To activate Balatro's debug menu and utilize its built-in cheats, you'll need 7-Zip, a free, open-source archiving tool. Locate your Balatro installation directory (typically C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\Balatro). If you can't find it, access it through your Steam library: right-click Balatro, select "Manage," then "Browse Local Files."

Right-click Balatro.exe and choose to open the archive using 7-Zip (this might be under "Show More Options" depending on your OS and 7-Zip settings). Locate conf.lua and open it with a text editor (like Notepad).

Modify _RELEASE_MODE = true to _RELEASE_MODE = false, then save. If saving fails, extract conf.lua to your desktop, make the change, and replace the original file. The debug menu will now activate by holding the Tab key in-game. To disable cheats, revert the _RELEASE_MODE parameter to true.

How to Use the Balatro Debug Menu

Balatro's cheat menu is user-friendly. Unlock collectibles by hovering and pressing '1'; spawn jokers by hovering and pressing '3'. Initially limited to five jokers, you can negate a joker's effect by pressing 'Q' four times while hovering over it, effectively increasing your joker count.

Balatro Cheat List (Hold Tab to Open Menu)

Cheat / Key Effect

1 Unlock a Collectible (while hovering) 2 Discover a Collectible (while hovering) 3 Spawn a Collectible (while hovering) Q Change Joker Edition (while hovering) H Isolate Background J Play Splash Animation 8 Toggle Cursor 9 Toggle All Tooltips $10 Adds $10 to Total +1 Round Increases Round by 1 +1 Ante Increases Ante by 1 +1 Hand Adds one Hand +1 Discard Adds one Discard Boss Reroll Rerolls the Boss Background Removes Background +10 Chips Adds 10 Chips +10 Mult Adds 10 to Multiplier X2 Chips Doubles Chip Total X10 Mult Increases Multiplier by 10 Win this Run Completes Current Run Lose this Run Ends Current Run Reset Resets Current Run Jimbo Makes Jimbo Appear Jimbo Talk Displays Jimbo Text Box