This Ain’t Even Poker, Ya Joker review for PC

At first glance, you could be forgiven for thinking This Ain’t Even Poker, Ya Joker is yet another Balatro clone – and not even in the “Balatro meets X” sense that describes so many other deckbuilders in recent years, but just a straight up Balatro clone. It’s basically poker – the game’s name notwithstanding – with lots of powered up cards and options to change your deck. That’s basically Balatro, right?

But it only takes a moment or two to realize that This Ain’t Even Poker, Ya Joker is something else entirely. In a way, you could say that it’s “Balatro meets X”, with “X” in this case being an idle clicker, but that doesn’t really capture the game and what it’s about.

Because even if This Ain’t Even Poker, Ya Joker calls itself an idle clicker, it isn’t really one. Yes, you do a lot of clicking around the screen, but that’s because you’re managing up to 10 decks at once, each of them with up to seven cards. And even once you unlock the ability to have the cards automatically flip themselves to show their hands and win you money, there are still all kinds of things you need to manage.

There are the upgrades, for one: as money starts pouring in (and believe me, it’s not long until the dollar amounts rise into the millions, hundreds of millions, and billions), you’ll constantly be trying to buy up the latest upgrades to increase your fortune even more, whether it’s to increase the value of different hands, or to increase the speed of flips. On top of that, you unlock the ability to go on “quests” fairly quickly, which means that as the money starts rolling in, you can add or destroy cards from your decks to increase the value of your hands. It’s a lot to manage, and with all the flashing lights and coins flying around the screen and quests moving at a faster and faster pace (again, thanks to upgrades), it can almost feel overwhelming.

But my goodness is it addictive. It’s absurdly easy to pick up, and it only sucks you in more and more as you see your accumulated wealth get bigger and bigger and bigger. It’s not likely to replace Balatro (or whatever your deckbuilder of choice may be), but if you want something that gives you a quick hit of adrenaline without being too demanding, you should probably check it out.

Oro Interactive/Drillhounds provided us with a This Ain’t Even Poker, Ya Joker PC code for review purposes.