Let’s Play Balatro… in Don’t Starve Together!

2024 Game of the Year, Balatro, is known for its addictive, poker-inspired gameplay--without the gambling. One of the game’s many charming details is the ability to choose custom face cards featuring characters from a variety of other games. Don’t Starve Together is one such game, with face cards featuring Wilson, Maxwell, and Charlie.

Now, the crossover goes both ways, with Klei adding Jimbo (and the ability to play Balatro) into Don’t Starve Together! Before you get too excited, this is not a one-to-one recreation of Balatro. The game has been super simplified to fit into the survival world of The Constant, with quick rounds yielding a plethora of rewards. Read on for an overview of the gameplay and prizes!

In order to play Balatro in DST, you’ll first need to find Jimbo, who will randomly spawn somewhere in the world. Once you roll up on him, you may want to set up a tiny base. Even if you’re playing single-player, the game will not pause during rounds of Balatro. Jimbo himself gives off enough light that you can stand by him and game through the night, but it’s handy to have a crockpot and perhaps a chest nearby in case you get hungry or need to store some of your rewards.

This version of Balatro consists of one joker and a five-card hand, with two chances to discard before a final score is given. There are no planet cards, tarot cards, and so on--you’ll have to rely solely on your joker’s gimmick and the luck of the draw. Aside from the ability of your joker, the cards are tied solely to chip scoring, and the poker hand played determines the multiplier.

You can start the game by clicking on Jimbo. From there, you’ll be given a choice of three jokers, inspired by survivors, to choose from. The choice changes each time you play, and each survivor/joker has different perks. Below is a list of the jokers and their abilities, which I’ve roughly ranked into four tiers based on my experiences so far. After that, we’ll go over the multiplier given by each type of hand, and rewards with their corresponding scores.

Top Tier

Wendy: +5 chips and +2 mult for each discard that is replaced by a card of the same suit 

Wendy is the only card that belongs in the top tier. Not only does she offer the best chance at a high mult with a few bonus chips thrown in, but this joker also seems to disregard the minimum scores necessary for rewards. Many times, I have gotten a few hundred points with this joker, yet received the maximum rewards that should require a score of 1400+!

Though I’m not sure the specifics of how this joker breaks the scoring rules of the game, it seems to be the only one that does. I have gotten extremely unlucky and managed to lose with this joker at least once though, so it isn’t completely broken. Maybe it is a glitch that we’ll lose in a patch, or perhaps it is there to strengthen my bias that Wendy and Abigail are the best characters in the game.

Great Tier

Wilson: +3 mult for each Pair when scoring

Webber: +2 mult for each Heart/Diamond discarded and replaced by a Club/Spade

Warly: +4 mult if you have a card of every suit during scoring

Maxwell: +1 mult for each Heart discarded

Winona: +1 mult for each Heart kept

Wickerbottom: +1 mult for each Queen during scoring

In this tier, you’ll notice that all of the jokers affect mult rather than chips. With only two chances to discard for a better hand, I rarely find myself playing three of a kind or better. These mult-increasing jokers are the best chance of scoring well when the hand itself can be an unreliable source of mult.

Good Tier

WX-78: +2 mult for each Heart kept once and then discarded

Wolfgang: +25 chips for each King during scoring

Wortox: +15 chips for each Heart discarded; -11 chips and +1 mult for each Heart during scoring

Walter: +15 chips per different suit discarded

Here we have best jokers that affect chips and the worst jokers that affect mult. In this range, I find myself winning a lot of supplies and bananas--not any gold or gems. If you’re trying to farm a specific reward (that isn’t gold), these jokers could be a better choice than those from the higher tiers.

Mediocre Tier

Wigfrid: +25 chips for each Spade during scoring

Wormwood: +15 chips for each Club kept

Woodie: +7 chips for each card discarded

Wes: +30 chips if your hand is worse after discard

Wanda: -15 chips each discard, but start with +80 chips

Willow: +20 chips for each face card discarded

Wurt: +10 chips for each face card kept

These are the jokers I rarely choose and often lose with. You definitely still can win rewards with these jokers, but they don’t pull much weight, especially in combination with a bad hand. Sometimes I use these jokers intentionally when I want to lose to farm honey and monster meat.

Multipliers

The multipliers are extremely simple in this version of Balatro, with each hand type corresponding to a number. High Card = 1 mult, Pair = 2 mult, Two Pair = 3 mult, Three of a Kind = 4 mult, Straight = 5 mult, Flush = 6 mult, Full House = 7 mult, Four of a Kind = 8 mult, Straight Flush = 9 mult, and Royal Flush = 10 mult.

Scores & Rewards

0-119: If you leave the game early or receive a score lower than 120, you’ll be punished for losing with a “reward” of either bees, hounds, or spiders. Honestly, they aren’t the worst prize in the world if you need anything that these monsters drop.

120-149: This minor victory earns you twigs and cut grass.

150-199: With slightly better supplies than the previous tier, you’ll get cut stone and rope from this score.

200-399: Gros michel, cavendish, is that you? You’ll receive two bananas in this score range.

400-599: Make it to this score range and Jimbo will prepare the bananas for you with a reward of two banana pops!

600-999: You’ve finally struck gold! At least, a little bit. Receive two gold nuggets.

1000-1399: You’re impressing me if you’re hanging out in this score range. Jimbo must be impressed too to reward you with eight gold.

1400+: The highest reward tier of all! Whether you got an amazing hand or used the Wendy joker to cheat this reward out of a lower score, you’ll be receiving 12 gold and three gems (a red, a blue, and a purple).

There are a few additional rewards that I’m choosing to group separately because they become more of a nuisance once you’ve played a few rounds: cards and records. If you score high enough to earn bananas or anything greater, then Jimbo will also drop a handful of playing cards on the ground. If you earn enough points to be rewarded with gold, then he’ll throw in a record as well.

While you can pick up all the cards and stack them together in one deck, it’s time consuming and tedious to do so. Leaving them in a giant heap around Jimbo is always an option, but it gets to the point where you accidentally pick them up instead of the better rewards, and the ground starts to look like it’s vibrating from all of the cards overlapping each other…They feel like more of a punishment than the monster spawns, which have more valuable drops than the mess of cards. (The record is slightly cooler, but you only need one of them. Once you have twelve records that don’t stack into one pile and all play the same song, it’s a little less rewarding.)

Overall, this integration of Balatro into Don’t Starve Together is incredibly fun, whether or not you’ve already played Balatro. It’s simple to learn and the variety of rewards makes it worth trying out. If for any reason you’re not a fan of the addition, you can easily avoid Jimbo and there will be zero impact on your experience. This was an excellent way to incorporate the crossover without intruding on any other aspects of the existing game.

What do you think of this update to Don’t Starve Together? Do you agree or disagree with my ranking of the jokers? Have you found any glitches similar to Wendy’s override of the reward system? Let me know in the comment section below!