Our five favorite Balatro-likes for the Steam Deck

Balatro-likes may be the best genre fit on the Deck. Most decisions happen in menus, and the payoff is watching numbers climb. Balatro itself is the obvious first install, so this list skips it and covers the games that swap poker hands for slot machines, blackjack, and pegboards. The first four are Deck Verified. Nubby's Number Factory is Playable, with a few interface snags covered below.

CloverPit

Steam Deck Verified. CloverPit is a roguelike gambling game in the spirit of Balatro, but with a horror twist and a slot machine in place of the deck of cards. You pull the lever to pay off a seemingly never-ending debt, locked in a small room with a slot machine and an ATM, buying charms between rounds to break the machine in your favor.

Default controls are accessible and text is legible. If you connect an external controller, you may need to switch the active controller through the Deck's Quick Access Menu. Start here if you want the closest thing to more Balatro.

Luck be a Landlord

Steam Deck Verified. Luck be a Landlord is the ancestor here. It is a roguelike deckbuilder about using a slot machine to earn rent money, and its Steam page quotes Balatro creator LocalThunk calling it Balatro's largest influence. You add symbols to your machine and build combos to make rent before the landlord comes knocking.

It is the straightforward slot-machine pick if CloverPit's horror setting puts you off. On Deck, it runs natively on Linux, with working default controls, Deck button icons, and readable text.

Dungeons & Degenerate Gamblers

Steam Deck Verified. Dungeons & Degenerate Gamblers is the card pick and the closest to Balatro's structure. It is a roguelike deckbuilder built on blackjack: you get as close to 21 as you can without going over, while trying to wear down your opponent's health. Your suit sets the playstyle, with hearts for healing, spades for protection, diamonds for shop currency, and clubs for damage. Your deck fills up with tarot cards, business cards, and hall passes.

Text is readable and the default controls work. As with CloverPit, an external controller may need selecting through the Quick Access Menu. Pick this one if building a strange deck matters more to you than pulling a lever.

Ballionaire

Steam Deck Verified. Ballionaire is the physics pick. It calls its genre an "autobonker": a physics-driven roguelike where you build synergies on a pachinko-style board, then drop balls and watch triggers chain. The fun is in placing pieces that turn a lucky bounce into a much bigger payout.

As with CloverPit and Dungeons & Degenerate Gamblers, an external controller may need selecting through the Quick Access Menu. At our September 29 check, Steam showed Very Positive English reviews overall but Mixed recent reviews, so read the latest feedback and patch notes before buying. Steam Workshop support gives you another way to experiment once you've explored the base game.

Nubby's Number Factory

Steam Deck Playable. Nubby's Number Factory is the plinko pick: you launch Nubby down a pegboard to hit a number quota, and if you miss it, the sun explodes. Items bought between rounds stack into the absurd scores the genre is built around. Its English Steam reviews were Overwhelmingly Positive at our September 29 check.

It is Windows-only and runs through Proton. SteamDB's Playable assessment flags small text, non-Deck button icons, and text entry that requires opening the on-screen keyboard yourself. It also says all functionality is accessible with the default controller configuration, so a custom layout is an option rather than a requirement. Expect more interface friction than with the four Verified picks.