Balatro, the 2024 breakout hit selling over 3.5 million copies and earning three Game Awards, maintains immense popularity due to its innovative gameplay and endless replayability. However, even 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 cheat usage without impacting achievements.
This guide details how to activate and utilize this hidden menu.
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Enabling Balatro Cheats
To unlock Balatro's cheat menu, 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 unsure, find Balatro in your Steam library, right-click, select "Manage," then "Browse Local Files."
Right-click Balatro.exe and open the archive using 7-Zip (this might be under "Show More Options"). Inside, find conf.lua and open it with a text editor like Notepad.
Change _RELEASE_MODE = true to _RELEASE_MODE = false, save the file. 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.
Using the Balatro Debug Menu
The Balatro cheat menu is user-friendly. Unlock collectibles by hovering and pressing '1'; spawn them with '3'. Initially limited to five Jokers, pressing 'Q' four times on a Joker in your hand transforms it into a negative, effectively allowing unlimited Jokers.
