I was shown this game a little over a year ago, by my then roommate and a mutual friend of ours. I was complaining about another game we were playing, so they, somewhat annoyed, decided to show me Balatro. They gave me the controller and let me at it, offering some helpful commentary but mostly letting me work it out. Somewhere along the way I picked up constellation, and the television speakers began to shake as my score caught fire on the lefthand side of the screen; I believe they called it a 'once in a lifetime' run. Lol. Our spirits were lifted, and I was hooked.
Several hundred hours later, my life is pretty radically different, save for a few things; among them, Balatro. Most days I nurse a Gold Stake run to victory during small windows of downtime, on the train or the toilet. On occasion, though, I've gone weeks without playing, only to boot it back up, and mysteriously find myself empty-bellied in a dark room, unsure how many hours have passed.
My will, my smarts, and my ingenuity have been tested. I've grown so very fond of the cast of characters whose many talents I leveraged to claim victory. Mime, churning out blue seals in dire straits, Hanging Chad, whose Swiss army knife application has been useful to me more times than I can count; each and every joker has at one time or another bailed me out, pushed me over the finish line, or otherwise been of heroic importance to me.
Maybe I'm just a lonely guy, who likes to tunnel deep into the faraway heart of things, and I'm hallucinating consolation. But this is a game that begs a person like me, one who loves to be in competition with himself, to take it apart. What I found along the way, was that a hilarious trick had been played upon me: never was I competing with myself, nor was I alone; I fought against the mountain, against its many forbidding faces, aided by my aforementioned allies. In our struggle, a very real camaraderie has formed.
I've reached the mountaintop now, I guess. It's only down from here. But I'll remember my friends, and in my daydreams I'll stay familiar with all the adventures we've been on together.
