You would not believe how low the Balatro creator’s expectations were for the roguelike: “My actual production project folder is called ‘CardGame’ and is still in my ‘Learning’ directory'”

Balatro is, by all definitions, a huge success, but its creator initially had astonishingly low expectations for the moreish poker roguelike.

Balatró launched on February 20 y vendido 1 millones de copias por marzo 18, not even a month later. As with many indie success stories, solo developer LocalThunk didn’t expect anything like the reception he’s gotten.

“I was expecting like four of my friends and my parents to buy the game, and that would have been awesome, entonces no, the entire past year has been a series of crazy events,” he wrote on Twitter in response to someone asking if he anticipated the love it’s gotten.

If you haven’t played the game yet, I can’t recommend it in good conscience because it may very well take over your life. Es now on mobile, demasiado, so you can play it on the go – devastating news for my productivity.

While the game has now sold over two million copies and also topped mobile game charts, superando a personas como Minecraft y Stardew Valley, it had very humble beginnings. “My actual production project folder is called ‘CardGame’ and is still in my ‘Learning’ directorio, if that tells you anything about the expectations I had for the game,” LocalThunk writes.

LocalThunk once called the game Fool’s Gambit but admitted it was “obviously not a great name.” If you’re wondering where the current name comes from, a balatro is a word for an Ancient Roman jester. So the name we all know and love it by is very fitting given the game revolves around collecting and using joker cards with various effects.

If you’re curious about Balatro and want to know more, debería leer la entrevista with the developer. If you’ve already given it a go and not played in a while, now is the perfect time to jump back in because the latest free update includes crossovers with games like Cyberpunk 2077 and Slay the Spire.

Mientras tanto, here are some of the other best roguelike games you can play right now.