Comparison

Dominion vs Balatro

Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both games, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.

Head to head
About

Dominion

Build a powerful deck to expand your kingdom and earn victory points in this acclaimed deck-building strategy game. Explore vast card combinations, compete against AI or other players online, and enjoy endless replayability with numerous expansions.

Highlights
  • Deck-building mechanics
  • Kingdom expansion
  • AI opponent
  • Online multiplayer
  • Daily puzzles
  • Cross-platform play
  • Expansion packs
Read full description

Expand a small kingdom to a mighty Dominion! Play the Spiel des Jahres winner beloved by millions of boardgame hobbyists around the world. This is the officially licensed implementation. REIGNING DECKBUILDER Discover the game that defined a genre, Dominion was first to popularize deck-building and remains a staple of tabletop. GROW YOUR KINGDOM Collect as many Victory Points as you can by building a powerful deck. Your deck starts out a small sad set of Estates and Coppers, but you hope that by the end of the game it will be brimming with Gold, Provinces, and the inhabitants and structures of your kingdom. BUILD YOUR ENGINE Choose wisely among the 10 cards available in the tableau to create the strongest combos to dominate your opponent. COLLECT ALL EXPANSIONS Make your games more exciting with additional cards and rules from up to 15 expansions including the recent Plunder expansion! NEAR INFINITE VARIETY Over one hundred thirty-two septillion possible Kingdom combinations, 500+ cards, 15 and counting expansions, and ongoing promo packs make Dominion one of the most extensive and replayable boardgames in the hobby. COMPETE WITH THE COMPUTER Sharpen your skills with solitaire style solo play against a robust AI, with four levels of difficulty. Our innovative AI learns through self-play. Earn Achievements and win in Recommended Sets against each AI level. PLAY FRIENDS OR STRANGERS Play with up to 6 players online through your device or pass and play among your friends. Join ranked or unranked matchmaking, with realtime and asynchronous modes. Set up a private table for a family game, challenge a stranger in the lobby, or invite a friend! DAILY PUZZLE A daily ritual to relax with over a cup of coffee. Try the Daily Dominion, a free puzzle level available to players around the world. Practice your strategy to keep up a winning streak and climb the leaderboard. CROSS-PLATFORM PLAY Play from any supported device, whenever you want, after verifying your email in-game. Join games with opponents on platforms other than your own. JOIN THE COMMUNITY With an active Discord and online community, make new friends or challenge new people to a game. Export and share kingdoms and game summaries to compare strategies. FREE TO PLAY Download the game that started it all for free! The base set of Dominion is available at no charge. Try the rotation of expansion cards in the Daily at no cost once per day. Jump into a lobby game with expansions enabled to try before you buy. Only the host needs to own the expansions. INTRODUCTION TO TABLETOP Learn the ropes in this easy to pick-up, hard to master title. Play one of the most highly regarded strategy tabletop games of all time through our simple tutorial. The core loop is easy to follow, but offers a wealth of strategy to explore. • 1 - 6 player support • Five-hundred plus cards • Solo play against 4 AI difficulties • Async & real-time multiplayer • Ranked & unranked matchmaking • Lobby & Private game tables • Cross platform multiplayer • Cross platform purchases • Daily challenge • Challenging AI that learns through self-play • Recommended Sets • Customize, save & share Kingdoms • Achievements, Stats & Leaderboards • Pass & Play mode • Automated score-keeping & hints • Smart-play options to streamline gameplay • Jumbo mode for readability on phones • Turbo mode to zoom through games quickly • Tutorial & Rules • 4 languages: English, Japanese, German, French • 15+ expansions plus three promo packs

About

Balatro

This game blends poker and solitaire mechanics with unique rule-bending twists. Build powerful poker hands, discover game-changing Joker cards, and create exciting combos to defeat challenging Boss Blinds. Explore different decks and game modes for endless replayability.

Highlights
  • Poker and Solitaire hybrid gameplay
  • Rule-bending mechanics
  • Collect over 150 unique Joker cards
  • Create powerful combos
  • Campaign and challenge modes
  • Pixel art visuals
Features
Read full description

Welcome to the official Balatro mobile game! Hypnotic and endlessly satisfying, Balatro is a magical mix of card games like Solitaire and Poker, that lets you twist the rules in ways never seen before! Your goal is to beat the Boss Blinds by making strong poker hands. Find new Jokers that change the game and create awesome and exciting combos! Win enough chips to beat tricky bosses, and find hidden bonus hands and decks as you play. You’ll need all the help you can get to beat the big boss, win the final challenge, and win the game. Features: * Remastered controls for touch screen devices. * Each run is different: every pick-up, discard and joker can dramatically alter the course of your run. * Multiple game items: discover over 150 Jokers, each with special powers. Use them with different decks,upgrade cards and vouchers to boost your scores. * Different Game modes: Campaign mode and challenge mode for you to play. * Beautiful Pixel Art: Immerse yourself in the CRT fuzz and enjoy detailed, hand-crafted pixel art.

Screenshots

Dominion2 screens
Balatro4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is price: Dominion at Free against Balatro's $9.99. Dominion also leads on iOS requirement (8.0 vs 15.0). Balatro's advantage is in-app purchases (none vs 17) and ratings volume (108K vs 5.1K). On rating, update cadence, ads and device support there is nothing between them.

Scored on Price · Rating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings · Update frequency · Ads · In-app purchases · Monetization · Best chart rank · Devices · Requires iOS

CostPrice · In-app purchases · Ads · Monetization

Dominion is free to download; Balatro costs $9.99 up front. Dominion sells 17 one-off in-app purchases. Balatro asks for nothing beyond the download.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

On the App Store both sit at effectively the same score — 4.9 for Dominion against 5.0 for Balatro. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Balatro has 108K ratings behind it against 5.1K, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews are what separate them: 68% of Dominion's written reviews are positive against 81% of Balatro's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Dominion ships an update every 5 days, Balatro every 8 days. The most recent releases landed on October 29, 2026 and October 30, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard7 real differences · 4 level
Dominion versus Balatro: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterDominionBalatro
PriceFree — better$9.99
Rating4.9 (5.1K ratings)5.0 (108K ratings) — better
Positive reviews68.5% of reviews81.0% of reviews — better
Number of ratings5.1K108K — better
Update frequencyEvery 5 days — betterEvery 8 days
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesNo — better
MonetizationFree with in-app purchases — betterPaid
Best chart rank—#2 — better
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPodiPhone, iPad, iPod
Requires iOS8.0 — better15.0
Further details — not scored
Size423 MB94 MB
Age rating4+12+
DeveloperTemple Gates Games LLCPlaystack Ltd

Customer experience

Dominion

All ratings4,729 ratings
Positive97.1%
Neutral1.2%
Negative1.7%
Written reviews355 reviews
Positive68.5%
Neutral12.4%
Negative19.2%

Balatro

All ratings107,874 ratings
Positive99.2%
Neutral0.3%
Negative0.6%
Written reviews1,885 reviews
Positive81.0%
Neutral5.3%
Negative13.7%

User reviews

Dominion

From 5.1K App Store ratings

What we love

  • 🚀 Smooth gameplay
  • 🎮 Faithful adaptation of the board game
  • 👍 Challenging AI opponents
  • 🎨 Great visual design and animations
  • 📱 Convenient mobile experience

Room to improve

  • 🐛 Bugs and glitches (e.g. crashes, card interactions not working as expected)
  • 🤖 Inconsistent or overpowered AI behavior
  • 💰 Expensive expansion packs
  • 🕰️ Slow animation speed for AI turns
  • 🔀 Lack of customization options (e.g. disabling certain cards, saving game setups)

Balatro

From 108K App Store ratings

What we love

  • 🎮 Addictive gameplay
  • 💎 Unique and compelling mechanics
  • 👍 Easy to learn, hard to master
  • 🎨 Charming pixel art and music
  • 💰 Great value for money

Room to improve

  • 🐛 Bugs and save issues
  • 🔍 Small text and UI elements
  • 🔋 Battery draining
  • 🔇 No background music support

Bugs and requests

Dominion

Reported bugs

3 issues
  • Possession card not working correctly
  • Victory points not displayed properly
  • Inability to rejoin games after server disconnects

Requested features

5 requests
  • Ability to select specific card sets for randomized games
  • Option to complete games against AI when opponents forfeit
  • More detailed game statistics and player history tracking
  • Improved matchmaking filters for online play
  • Shareable in-app purchases for family members

Balatro

Reported bugs

3 issues
  • Unlocks and achievements not registering properly
  • Crashes and freezes on certain devices
  • Joker and card interactions not working as expected

Requested features

3 requests
  • Cloud save sync across devices
  • Portrait mode option
  • Customizable UI and accessibility settings

In-app purchases

17 purchases

Dominion

One-time17
  • Alchemy$4.99
  • Intrigue$4.99
  • Cornucopia$4.99
Show 14 more
  • Guilds$4.99
  • Seaside$9.99
  • Renaissance$9.99
  • Menagerie$9.99
  • Prosperity$9.99
  • Dark Ages$9.99
  • Adventures$9.99
  • Empires$9.99
  • Plunder$9.99
  • Nocturne$9.99
  • Rising Sun$9.99
  • Hinterlands$9.99
  • Launch Bundle$99.99
  • Expansion Bundle$109.99
None

Balatro

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is Dominion free?
Dominion is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is Balatro free?
Balatro costs $9.99, with no in-app purchases.
Which has better reviews, Dominion or Balatro?
Balatro is rated higher. Dominion averages 4.9 out of 5 from 5.1K ratings, while Balatro averages 5.0 from 108K ratings.
Do Dominion or Balatro have ads?
Neither Dominion nor Balatro shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Dominion or Balatro?
Dominion ships an update every 5 days, and Balatro every 8 days. Most recently, Dominion was updated on October 29, 2026 and Balatro on October 30, 2026.

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