How to Use Cheats in Balatro (Debug Menu Guide)

Balatro took the world by storm upon its 2024 release, selling over 3.5 million copies and earning three awards at the 2024 Game Awards. Its creativity and near-infinite replayability maintain its popularity, though seasoned players might seek ways to refresh their experience.

While mods offer one solution, accessing Balatro's built-in developer debug menu provides another. This method, involving simple keystrokes and clicks, allows for cheat activation. Balatro cheats enable crafting ideal Joker combinations without seed searching, and conveniently preserve achievement unlocks—a boon for mod-averse players.

Quick Links

• How to Enable Cheats in Balatro
• How to Use the Debug Menu in Balatro

How to Enable Cheats in Balatro

To enable the Balatro debug menu and utilize its cheats, you'll need the open-source software 7-Zip. Navigate to your Balatro installation directory (typically C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\Balatro). If not found there, locate Balatro in your Steam library, right-click, select "Manage," then "Browse Local Files." Right-click Balatro.exe and open the archive using 7-Zip (this might be under "Show More Options," depending on your OS and 7-Zip settings). Locate the file `conf.lua` and open it with a text editor (like 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 will now activate by holding the Tab key in-game.

Disable the debug menu anytime by changing the `RELEASE_MODE` parameter back to `true` in `conf.lua`.

How to Use the Debug Menu in Balatro

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

All Balatro Cheats (Hold Tab to Open Menu)

Cheat / Key	Effect
1	Unlock a Collectible (while hovering over it in the collection)
2	Discover a Collectible (while hovering over it in the collection)
3	Spawn a Collectible (while hovering over it in the collection)
Q	Change Joker Edition (while hovering 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