#Microblog Monday 509: Balatro

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The Wolvog introduced me to the game Balatro. It’s a roguelike card game, played on the surface like poker. But the various additional cards — jokers, planet cards, etc — increase the impact of the played hand. So you’re taking chances in multiple ways: the hand you play, the booster packs you purchase, the blinds you skip. Even the order of the jokers makes a difference. It became enormous fun once he taught me how to play and explained all of the cards. (I still need to text him when the game unlocks a new one to understand what it means.)

But the thing I love most of all is that when I play, it turns off all notifications and alerts. I don’t see news alerts come in. For thirty minutes or so, I can lose myself in the game and not think about the election or the state of the world. It’s hard to convince myself not to check the news when I can access other apps, but I love that this one gently tells me to shut it all out and turn off my brain for thirty minutes.

Thanks, Balatro.

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