Balatro took the gaming world by storm upon its release in early 2024, selling over 3.5 million copies and clinching three out of five nominations at the 2024 Game Awards. Its innovative gameplay and endless replayability have kept it a favorite among players. As players become more adept at its mechanics, they often seek new ways to enhance their experience. While mods offer one solution, another option is to use the game's built-in developer debug menu, which can be activated with a few simple steps. Balatro cheats enable players to craft their ideal Joker combinations without the hassle of searching for perfect seeds, and the best part is that achievements remain intact, making it a great choice for those who prefer not to use mods.

Quick Links

• How to Enable Cheats in Balatro

• How to Use the Debug Menu in Balatro

How to Enable Cheats in Balatro

To access the Balatro debug menu and utilize the game's built-in cheats, you'll need the free, open-source software called 7-Zip. Once you have it installed, navigate to the directory where Balatro is installed, 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 under "Show More Options." After opening the archive, locate and open the file named conf.lua using a simple text editor like Notepad.

To enable the debug menu, change _RELEASE_MODE = true to _RELEASE_MODE = false and save 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 version. Once done correctly, you can access the debug menu by holding the tab button in-game.

To disable the debug menu, simply revert the RELEASE_MODE parameter in conf.lua back to true.

How to Use the Debug Menu in Balatro

Using the Balatro cheats menu is straightforward, with most functions being self-explanatory. To unlock every item 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)