Top 10 Balatro Jokers with Interesting Easter Eggs and Origins

It may come as a shock to you that most of Balatro's Jokers are filled with Easter eggs and references to popular culture, some of which bring attention to things most people outside of their niches don't care about.

Here are some that I thought were pretty interesting.

The Top Ten

  1. Legendary Jokers

    Each of the legendary jokers is a reference to some piece of theatre culture or old tale. They include:

    *Canio: References the Italian opera "Pagliacci," which tells the story of an actor and playwright (Canio) who, after finding out his wife Nedda cheated on him with a man named Silvio, murders both of them onstage during a play.

    *Triboulet: Its origins are widely debated, with some believing there were three jesters in France with the Triboulet moniker who all served under the Louis dynasty. Its abilities were derived from an old tale where a court jester slaps a king, who tells Trib he would be allowed to live if he gave an answer more offensive than the act. He replies, "I'm sorry, Your Majesty. I mistook you for the queen."

    *Perkeo: Derived from Perkeo of Heidelberg, a jester for Elector Palatine Charles III Philip in Heidelberg, Germany. He's used as an unofficial mascot in the city (think of him as what Kumamon is to Kumamoto) and is connected to many festivals and companies in the area. Perkeo's abilities may come from the jester drinking five to eight gallons of wine every day.

    *Triboulet: Originated from a jester who served the Henry dynasty of France and could have conversations with Kings Henry III and IV without using any formalities.

    *Yorick: An unseen character in Shakespeare's "Hamlet," where he's an exhumed skull in Act 5, Scene 1. The 23 discard requirement comes from the line: "This skull has lain on earth three and twenty years... Sir, this skull belonged to Yorick, the king's jester."

  2. Mail-In Rebate

    The envelope is addressed to West 42nd Street in New York City, which is Jerry Seinfeld's apartment in Seinfeld.

  3. Sock and Buskin

    You've likely seen this joker's design at your school's drama club or local theater. It's an ancient Greek symbol of comedy and tragedy, where actors with comedic roles wore socks and actors with tragic roles wore buskins, which were sandals worn in ancient Greece and during the Roman period. The masks on the joker are known as Thalia and Melpomene.

  4. To Do List

    Now you're probably wondering what's so special about a joker that reads "Jog, Oil Change, Karate, Eat Candy, and Ruminate." You'll be quick to discover the first letters of each task spell out "joker."

  5. Seeing Double

    The joker and its unlock requirement are a reference to British pop group S Club 7 and their 2002 album Seeing Double. Probably should have been left on the cutting room floor.

  6. Hanging Chad

    During the 2000 presidential election, Vice President Al Gore and Texas Governor George W. Bush were just electoral votes away from becoming the 43rd president of the United States and changing the course of history. The results were delayed by several weeks because a voting machine in Florida had trouble removing the little fragment of paper from its ballot sheet. That's what inspired the creation of this joker, and its design even appeared in an episode of How I Met Your Mother.

  7. Fibonacci

    The joker targeting 2s, 3s, 5s, 8s, and aces refers to what's known in mathematics as the Fibonacci sequence, a pattern where the next number is found by adding the current number to the previous one. Assuming the pattern starts at 0, it goes like this: 0, 1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13, 21, 34, 55, and so on. Aces are used as stand-ins for 13, and the joker's price point ($8) is a Fibonacci number.

  8. Ancient Joker

    This one is pretty unique because it's one of the few jokers to reference internet personalities. Ancient Joker's design is modeled after OLBAP, a crescent-like face that Twitch streamer Michael Fox (MALF) would sketch whenever he played games that involve drawing.

  9. Ride the Bus

    The design of this joker references the bus stop signs in Regina, Saskatchewan, LocalThunk's place of residence.

  10. Credit Card

    Don't get excited like I did. LocalThunk didn't put his real credit card number on this joker. Instead, the numbers are pop culture references. The digits 867-5039 reference the song by Tommy Tutone, 420 and 69 are internet humor numbers, and 1234 is often used on fake credit cards.

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