Home News How to Use Cheats in Balatro (Debug Menu Guide)

How to Use Cheats in Balatro (Debug Menu Guide)

by Sebastian Jan 20,2025

Balatro: Unleash the Power of Cheats and the Debug Menu

Balatro, the 2024 Game Awards sensation, captivated players worldwide with its innovative gameplay and endless replayability. Millions of copies sold and numerous awards later, its popularity endures. However, even seasoned players might seek new ways to spice up their experience. While mods offer one solution, accessing Balatro's built-in developer debug menu provides an alternative, allowing for cheat activation without impacting achievements.

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Enabling Cheats in Balatro

To unlock Balatro's hidden 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 you can't find it, navigate to your Steam library, right-click Balatro, select "Manage," then "Browse Local Files."

Right-click Balatro.exe and open the archive using 7-Zip (you may need to select "Show More Options" depending on your OS and 7-Zip settings). Inside, find and open conf.lua with a text editor (like Notepad).

Modify the line _RELEASE_MODE = true to _RELEASE_MODE = false, then save the file. If saving fails, extract conf.lua to your desktop, make the change, and replace the original file. With this done, press and hold the Tab key in-game to access the debug menu. To disable cheats, simply revert the _RELEASE_MODE parameter to true.

Utilizing the Debug Menu

Balatro's cheat menu is intuitive. Unlock items by hovering over them in your collection and pressing '1'. Spawn jokers by hovering and pressing '3'. Initially limited to five jokers, you can transform a joker into a negative using 'Q' (four presses) to effectively increase your joker count.

Balatro Cheat Codes (Hold Tab for Menu)

Cheat / Key Effect 1Unlock Collectible (hover over in collection) 2Discover Collectible (hover over in collection) 3Spawn Collectible (hover over in collection) QChange Joker Edition (hover over in hand) HIsolate Background JPlay Splash Animation 8Toggle Cursor 9Toggle All Tooltips $10Adds $10 to Total +1 RoundIncreases Round by 1 +1 AnteIncreases Ante by 1 +1 HandAdds an Additional Hand +1 DiscardAdds an Additional Discard Boss RerollRerolls the Boss BackgroundRemoves Background +10 ChipsAdds 10 Chips +10 MultAdds 10 to Multiplier X2 ChipsDoubles Chip Total X10 MultIncreases Multiplier by 10 Win this RunCompletes Current Run Lose this RunEnds Current Run ResetResets Current Run JimboMakes Jimbo Appear Jimbo TalkDisplays Jimbo Text Box
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