Balatro vs In Da Crib
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.
In Da Crib
Experience the classic card game with a vibrant, retro pixel art style. Enjoy smooth gameplay, exciting animations, and a challenging campaign mode. Track your stats and compete with friends or AI opponents.
- Retro pixel art graphics
- Smooth cardplay and animations
- Offline play against bots
- Online multiplayer with friends
- Challenging campaign mode
- Detailed player statistics
- Unlockable custom decks
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In Da Crib is our love letter to the greatest card game ever created: Cribbage. And it's completely free, no ads, and no in-app purchases. We're certified crib-heads, but we got sick of all the cribbage apps looking so... dull. Boring. Unexciting. Everything that cribbage ISN'T. So we made In Da Crib. It's the same game you've always loved, but now given the treatment it deserves: pixel art, retro gaming feel, ultra-smooth cardplay, exciting animations, and rarity ranks for each hand you score. Next time you drop a 5-5-5-J with a 5 starter (nobs), your 29 point hand will get the aesthetic fanfare it deserves. Jump into a quick match and we'll find you a fellow crib tragic to play against. Or challenge your friends directly. Or hone your skills offline (no account needed) against cribbage bots which range in difficulty from easybeats, to genuine contenders, to impossible algorithms who literally cheat at cards. Take on The Gauntlet, a brutal campaign mode against increasingly difficult bot-cheaters. And all the while, unlock dozens of beautiful custom decks by completing challenges. Plus, we give detailed stats on your cribbage career. And more importantly, we keep head-to-head stats between you and your friends. Now you can definitively answer the questions, "who's got the biggest win? How many times have I skunked you? Who's got the longest streak? Which one of us is the better human being?" In Da Crib is completely free. No ads. No in-app purchases. Just our love letter to the most addictive card game in history.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is price: In Da Crib at Free against Balatro's $9.99. In Da Crib also leads on update cadence (every 3 days vs every 8 days). Balatro's advantage is ratings volume (108K vs 4) and chart position (#2 vs unranked). On rating, ads, in-app purchases and iOS requirement 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
In Da Crib 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 5.0 for In Da Crib. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Balatro has 108K ratings behind it against 4, so its average is the more settled of the two.
Balatro ships an update every 8 days, In Da Crib every 3 days. The most recent releases landed on October 25, 2026 and October 24, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Balatro | In Da Crib |
|---|---|---|
| Price | $9.99 | Free — better |
| Rating | 5.0 (108K ratings) | 5.0 (4 ratings) — better |
| Positive reviews | — | 100.0% of reviews |
| Number of ratings | 108K — better | 4 |
| Update frequency | Every 8 days | Every 3 days — better |
| 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 | 16.4 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 94 MB | 100 MB |
| Age rating | 12+ | 12+ |
| Developer | Playstack Ltd | Timothy Nash |
Customer experience
Balatro
In Da Crib
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
In Da Crib
Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.
In-app purchases
Balatro
No in-app purchases
In Da Crib
No in-app purchases









