Balatro vs 52
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both games, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
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.
- Poker and Solitaire hybrid gameplay
- Rule-bending mechanics
- Collect over 150 unique Joker cards
- Create powerful combos
- Campaign and challenge modes
- Pixel art visuals
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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.
52
This app provides a digital deck of cards for playing various card games on your phone. It offers customizable layouts, shuffling options, and multiplayer functionality across multiple devices. Enjoy solo or group games anywhere, anytime.
- Digital deck of cards
- Customizable layouts
- Shake to shuffle
- Multiplayer across devices
- Private hand views
- Customizable backgrounds and designs
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Play your favorite card games anytime! 52 brings a complete deck of cards to your pocket, ready for wherever you are. Turn your phone into the perfect game table: - Drag and arrange cards around your screen - Choose from multiple layouts (solitaire, circle, grid..) - Shuffle with a tap or shake your phone - Customize your experience with different table backgrounds and card designs Play multiplayer version across multiple phones with the same layout options and private hand views + a shared table view for all players. Perfect for solo games like Solitaire or group games like Poker, Go Fish, and countless others. 52 adapts to the card games you love - making every moment a chance to play. Message us on instagram (@52cardapp) with any feedback or questions. We're a new app and always looking to continue to improve.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is price: 52 at Free against Balatro's $9.99. 52 also leads on review sentiment (92% vs 81%). Balatro's advantage is update cadence (every 8 days vs every 3 months) and ratings volume (109K vs 16). On rating, ads and in-app purchases 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
52 is free to download; Balatro costs $9.99 up front. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.
On the App Store both sit at effectively the same score — 5.0 for Balatro against 4.8 for 52. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Balatro has 109K ratings behind it against 16, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews are what separate them: 81% of Balatro's written reviews are positive against 92% of 52's.
Balatro ships an update every 8 days, 52 every 3 months. The most recent releases landed on November 11, 2026 and November 5, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Balatro | 52 |
|---|---|---|
| Price | $9.99 | Free — better |
| Rating | 5.0 (109K ratings) — better | 4.8 (16 ratings) |
| Positive reviews | 81.0% of reviews | 91.7% of reviews — better |
| Number of ratings | 109K — better | 16 |
| Update frequency | Every 8 days — better | Every 3 months |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | No | No |
| Monetization | Paid | Free — better |
| Best chart rank | #2 — better | — |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod — better | iPhone |
| Requires iOS | 15.0 — better | 18.2 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 94 MB | 25 MB |
| Age rating | 12+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Playstack Ltd | Justin Michael Laiti |
Customer experience
Balatro
52
Bugs and requests
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
52
Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.
In-app purchases
Balatro
No in-app purchases
52
No in-app purchases
