Balatro is the smash hit poker-themed roguelike that damaged global productivity when it released earlier this year, but it could've been a much smaller deal with a less catchy name like, let's say, Trial of the Fool, or one of the other rejected titles that its developer recently shared.
Balatro's creator LocalThunk took to social media to share a shortlist of the game's potential names that were considered prior to release. Balatro is almost definitely the best name among them, deriving from the Roman 'Balatro' - a word later used for professional jesters or buffoons or, y'know, jokers. Genius. I had to Google that fun fact for you because - and I'll be honest - I thought Balatro was just one of those fun, made-up, instantly-iconic titles that sprung out of the creator's noggin. I'm sure I'm not alone either, which is part of what makes the name work.
Alas, the list of names scrapped to make way for Balatro is slightly less flattering. Find them below, dear reader, and be kind to Hyperborean Hold 'em.
- Joker Poker
- Rogue Hold 'em
- Rogue Poker
- Trial of the Joker
- Trial of the Fool
- Foolish Poker
- Hands of the Fool
- Fools Gambit
- Balatro
- Balatron
- Balatronic Hold 'em
- Fools Hold 'em
- Hyperborean Hold 'em
- Cartomancer's Hold 'em
Okay, okay. Some of them are pretty damn good. Joker Poker? Kinda catchy. Balatron? Sounds like a badass Decepticon. Take the idea one step further and we get Balatronic Hold 'em, which makes me slightly bitter that we didn't get to see something like Balatronical [ Insert Second Cool Word ] on the list.
I could honestly leave the "... Hold 'Ems" at the door but the last two did make my ears perk up. Cartomancer (card-using fortune teller) and Hyperborean (mythical people from Greek mythology) are both balatronic in the sense that they're very cool, memorable words. Though neither really fit the poker theme unless LocalThunk was considering a tarot card expansion.
An expansion wouldn't be out of the question as Balatro has sold well over one million copies, far surpassing its creator's wildest dreams to sell "maybe 10 copies" before returning to their IT job. A mobile release is also in the works (RIP to my lunch breaks.)
Check out the best roguelike games to play in the meantime.
Balatro creator started "properly playing the game myself about a week before launch" and had "a pretty emotional moment" where he realized it's "actually fun"
Balatro creator initially considered a Steam release in part to help "get a game developer job somewhere," and after 5 million sales I'd say he found one
