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 creativity and near-infinite replayability have kept it a fan favorite. As players become adept at its mechanics, they often seek new ways to enhance their gaming experience. While mods offer a way to do this, some prefer the built-in developer debug menu, which can be activated with some straightforward steps. Using Balatro cheats, players can curate their dream Joker combinations without the hassle of searching for the perfect seeds, and the best part is that achievements remain unlocked, making it a preferred choice for those avoiding mods.
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How to Enable Cheats in Balatro
To activate 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 located at C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\Balatro. If it's not in this location, find Balatro in your Steam library, right-click, and select "Manage" followed by "Browse Local Files".
Upon reaching the correct folder, right-click on Balatro.exe and choose to open the archive with 7-Zip. Depending on your operating system and the options selected during 7-Zip's installation, this might be under the "Show More Options" menu. Open the archive and locate the file named conf.lua, then open it with a basic text editor like Notepad.
To enable the debug menu, change the line _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 with your modified version. Once completed, you can access the debug menu by pressing and holding the tab button while in-game.
To disable the debug menu, simply revert the _RELEASE_MODE parameter back to true in the conf.lua file.
How to Use the Debug Menu in Balatro
Using the Balatro cheats menu is user-friendly, with most functions being self-explanatory. To unlock every item in your collection, hover over the item and press 1 while the debug menu is active. To add any Balatro joker to your current game, hover over it and press 3. Initially limited to five jokers, you can transform a joker into a negative by hovering over it in your hand and pressing Q four times, enabling you to use as many jokers as you desire 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 |
