Balatro has 20 challenges, each a unique Challenge Deck that warps the rules — disabling your economy, hiding your cards, making the whole deck Glass, or removing Jokers entirely. They play only on White Stake, and they're meant to be solved with a specific strategy, not brute force.
How to unlock Challenge Mode
- Win a run with 5 different decks → the first 5 challenges unlock.
- Each challenge you beat unlocks the next; win 15 challenges to unlock all 20.
- No achievements or unlocks are earned inside Challenge Mode (the conditions would trivialize some). Your stats and high scores still update.
All 20 challenges
Each challenge's defining twist (the starting Jokers usually hint at the intended strategy):
| # | Challenge | Core twist |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | The Omelette | No money from blinds, hands, or interest. Start with 5 Eggs + Eternal Ride the Bus — race a scoring engine before you go broke. |
| 2 | 15 Minute City | Your chip score can't exceed your current cash. Start $100 + Eternal Shortcut; hoard money and win on high Mult. |
| 3 | Rich get Richer | Start flush — $100 and the Money Tree voucher. A gentler, economy-rich opener. |
| 4 | On a Knife's Edge | Eternal Ceremonial Dagger pinned in the leftmost slot, eating the Jokers to its right for Mult. |
| 5 | X-Ray Vision | 1 in 4 cards are drawn face down — you play with imperfect information. |
| 6 | Mad World | Ranks 2-9 only (32 cards) with Eternal Pareidolia (every card counts as a face) + Eternal Business Card. |
| 7 | Luxury Tax | You hold 1 fewer card in hand for every $5 you have — the richer you get, the smaller your hand. |
| 8 | Non-Perishable | Every Joker you take is Eternal (can't sell or destroy). Self-destruct Jokers are banned — choose carefully. |
| 9 | Medusa | All face cards are replaced by Stone cards. Build around Stone scoring. |
| 10 | Double or Nothing | Played cards are debuffed after scoring; deck is all Red Seal. Beat the Ante 4 boss and all Jokers turn Eternal while your slots drop to 0. |
| 11 | Typecast | Start with enhancement-makers (The Emperor, Empress, Magic Trick, Illusion) + Eternal Vampire — an enhanced-card run. |
| 12 | Inflation | Every purchase permanently raises all prices by $1. Discount vouchers banned; start with a Credit Card. |
| 13 | Bram Poker | Jokers never appear in the shop (only from Buffoon packs). Start with 2 Eternal Negative Oops! All 6s. |
| 14 | Fragile | Your entire deck is Glass — huge X Mult, but every card can shatter. Ways to add non-glass cards are banned. |
| 15 | Monolith | Start with Eternal Obelisk and other Eternal scaling Jokers — lean into the scaling engine. |
| 16 | Blast Off | Start with Eternal Rocket + Planet Merchant/Tycoon, but limited hands and discards. |
| 17 | Five-Card Draw | Generous Joker slots (7) but tight hands; start with Card Sharp and a base Joker. |
| 18 | Golden Needle | Only 1 hand per round (with 6 discards) and $10 to start — one scoring shot each round. |
| 19 | Cruelty | Discards each cost $1, blinds give no reward money, and you get only 3 Joker slots. |
| 20 | Jokerless | 0 Joker slots and every way to get a Joker is banned. Win on base hands and Planet levels alone. |
How to approach any challenge
- Read the restriction first. The challenge is defined by what it takes away — plan around the missing piece (no economy, no discards, no jokers).
- The starting jokers are the hint. A challenge that hands you Eternal Ride the Bus or Obelisk wants you to lean on that scaler.
- Race your engine. Most challenges punish slow starts harder than a normal run — commit to a hand type early and level it with Planet cards.
- Mind the Eternal stickers. When jokers are Eternal (Non-Perishable, Double or Nothing post-Ante 4), a bad pick is permanent. Take only what you'll keep.
The hardest ones
- Jokerless — no jokers at all. Pick a deck and one hand type, level that hand relentlessly with Planet cards, and lean on card enhancements (Glass, Steel, Bonus) for raw score. Patience over flash.
- Double or Nothing — the Ante 4 twist (slots → 0) means you must have your win condition essentially locked before then.
- Fragile — the all-Glass deck multiplies hard but thins fast; protect against shattering and win quickly.
- The Omelette — with no economy, your survival is whatever scoring joker you find first. Grab a scaler and never look back.
Keep reading
Guide
Best Jokers for Beginners — the loadout roles that still apply inside most challenges.
Guide
All 15 Decks — win with 5 of them to unlock Challenge Mode.
Tool
Score Calculator — work out whether your restricted board clears the next blind.
Database
Poker Hands — base values you'll lean on hard in Jokerless and economy challenges.