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Decrypting Balatro Cheats: Uncover the Debug Menu Secrets

by Alexis Feb 14,2025

Balatro, the 2024 breakout hit selling over 3.5 million copies and earning multiple Game Awards, maintains immense popularity. However, mastering its mechanics might leave players seeking fresh challenges. While mods offer one solution, accessing the game's built-in developer debug menu provides another, retaining achievement unlocks. This guide details how to enable and utilize Balatro's cheats.

Enabling Cheats in Balatro

To activate Balatro's debug menu and cheats, you'll need 7-Zip (free, open-source software). Locate your Balatro installation directory (typically C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\Balatro). If unsure, find Balatro in your Steam library, right-click, select "Manage," then "Browse Local Files."

Right-click Balatro.exe and open the archive using 7-Zip (may be under "Show More Options"). Find conf.lua and open it with a text editor (e.g., Notepad).

Change _RELEASE_MODE = true to _RELEASE_MODE = false, then save. If saving fails, extract conf.lua to your desktop, make the change, and replace the original file. The debug menu (accessed by holding Tab in-game) should now be active. To disable, revert the _RELEASE_MODE parameter to true.

Using the Debug Menu in Balatro

Balatro's cheat menu is user-friendly. Unlock collectibles by hovering and pressing '1'; spawn jokers by hovering and pressing '3'. Initially limited to five jokers, pressing 'Q' four times on a joker in your hand transforms it into a negative, effectively increasing your joker limit.

All Balatro Cheats (Hold Tab to Open Menu)

Cheat / Key	Effect
1	Unlock a Collectible (hover over it)
2	Discover a Collectible (hover over it)
3	Spawn a Collectible (hover over it)
Q	Change Joker Edition (hover 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