Balatro burst onto the scene in early 2024, captivating gamers worldwide with its innovative gameplay and endless replayability. With over 3.5 million copies sold and three wins out of five nominations at the 2024 Game Awards, it's clear why Balatro remains a favorite. As players delve deeper into its mechanics, they often seek new ways to enhance their experience. While mods are an option, many prefer using the game's built-in developer debug menu for a seamless and achievement-friendly approach to customizing their gameplay.
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How to Enable Cheats in Balatro
To access the Balatro debug menu and utilize its built-in cheats, you'll need the free, open-source software, 7-Zip. Assuming you have it installed, navigate to the Balatro installation directory, typically found at C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\Balatro. If it's not in this location, find Balatro in your Steam library, right-click, select "Manage," and then "Browse Local Files."
Once in the correct folder, right-click on Balatro.exe and choose to open the archive with 7-Zip. This option might be under "Show More Options" depending on your OS and 7-Zip settings. After opening the archive, locate and open the conf.lua file using a simple text editor like Notepad.
To enable cheats, change _RELEASE_MODE = true to _RELEASE_MODE = false and save the file. If you encounter issues saving, extract conf.lua to your desktop, make the change, and then replace the original file. If successful, you can now access the debug menu by holding the tab button in-game.
To disable the debug menu, simply revert _RELEASE_MODE back to true in the conf.lua file.
How to Use the Debug Menu in Balatro
Using the Balatro cheats menu is straightforward and intuitive. To unlock any item in your collection, hover over it and press 1 with the debug menu open. To add any of the diverse Balatro jokers to your current game, hover over the desired joker and press 3. While you start with a limit of five jokers, you can transform 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 |
