This Balatro Stakes guide will take a look at the Stakes (i.e the difficulty) options in Balatro, how to unlock them, and what changes are made with each one. Balatro has released on Steam to quit the whirlwind as the self-described Poker roguelite has captured the imagination of players.

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Balatro Stakes Guide – Effects & How to Unlock

How to Unlock

So this is a rather tedious process where you have to unlock each new stake by winning a run on the previous difficulty. The only issue being, you only unlock the next stake for that deck, not all decks. Meaning a completed run of the White Stake on the Red Deck only unlocks the next Stake for the Red Deck, not the Blue or Black etc.

You will have to make a number of successful runs in order to reach the highest difficulty on all decks, which could prove quite time consuming.

Rules of Each Stake

White Stake – Base difficulty, no impact
Red Stake – Earn no reward money from Small Blinds
Green Stake – Required score scales faster for each Ante + Red Stake Effects
Black Stake – Shop can have Eternal Jokers + Applies previous Stake effects
Blue Stake – -1 Discard
Purple Stake – Required Score scales faster for each Ante + Applies previous effects
Orange Stake – Booster packs cost an extra $1 per Ante

That is all for this Balatro Stakes guide. Did we omit anything? Is there any other Balatro content you’d like to see? Be sure to chime in and let us know.

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