Mini Metro vs Balatro
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both games, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Mini Metro
Design and manage a subway system for a growing city. Draw lines, start trains, and adapt your network as new stations open. Strategically use limited resources to keep the city moving and achieve the highest score.
- Design subway maps
- Draw lines between stations
- Manage train routes
- Adapt to random city growth
- Utilize limited resources
- Over two dozen real-world cities
- Variety of upgrades
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Mini Metro, the sublime subway simulator, now on iPhone and iPad. • Included in the App Store Best of 2016 • Mac Game of the Year in over 30 countries • BAFTA-nominated • IGF award-winning • IGN Mobile Game of the Year nominee • Included in Gamespot's Best Mobile Games of 2016 Mini Metro is a game about designing a subway map for a growing city. Draw lines between stations and start your trains running. As new stations open, redraw your lines to keep them efficient. Decide where to use your limited resources. How long can you keep the city moving? • Random city growth means each game is unique. • Over two dozen of real-world cities to test your planning skills. • A variety of upgrades so you can tailor your network. • Normal mode for quick scored games, Endless to relax, or Extreme for the ultimate challenge. • Build your metro exactly how you want to with the Creative mode. • Compete against the world every day in the Daily Challenge. • Colorblind and night modes. • Responsive soundtrack created by your metro system, engineered by Disasterpeace. "If you love the city-planning aspect of Sim City but can't handle the pressure of playing god, then you may have just found your new favorite time-waster." - Ashley Feinberg, Gizmodo "Take my word for it that a game about mass-transit system design can be a tense, white-knuckle thriller." - Owen Faraday, Pocket Tactics "Mini Metro: fun game simulates planning and running public transit system." - Cory Doctorow, Boing Boing
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.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is update cadence: Balatro at every 5 days against Mini Metro's every 2 months. Balatro also leads on chart position (#2 vs #22) and ratings volume (105K vs 31K). Mini Metro's advantage is price ($3.99 vs $9.99). On rating, review sentiment, 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
Mini Metro costs $3.99 and Balatro $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 — 4.9 for Mini Metro against 5.0 for Balatro. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 31K and 105K respectively. Written reviews are what separate them: 88% of Mini Metro's written reviews are positive against 81% of Balatro's.
Mini Metro ships an update every 2 months, Balatro every 5 days. Both last shipped on September 28, 2026.
| Parameter | Mini Metro | Balatro |
|---|---|---|
| Price | $3.99 — better | $9.99 |
| Rating | 4.9 (31K ratings) | 5.0 (105K ratings) — better |
| Positive reviews | 87.6% of reviews — better | 81.1% of reviews |
| Number of ratings | 31K | 105K — better |
| Update frequency | Every 2 months | Every 5 days — better |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | No | No |
| Monetization | Paid | Paid |
| Best chart rank | #22 | #2 — better |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod | iPhone, iPad, iPod |
| Requires iOS | 12.0 — better | 13.5 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 179 MB | 93 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 12+ |
| Developer | Dinosaur Polo Club | Playstack Ltd |
Customer experience
Mini Metro
Balatro
User reviews
Mini Metro
From 31K App Store ratingsWhat we love
- 🚀 Simple and relaxing gameplay
- 🎨 Beautiful minimalist design
- ⏱️ Addictive and time-killing
- 🌐 Wide variety of cities to play
- 💰 Good value for money
Room to improve
- 🐛 Trains skipping stations
- 🤯 Overwhelming difficulty at times
- 🔍 Lack of clear instructions
- 🔀 Difficulty removing/rerouting lines
- 🕰️ No ability to save progress
Balatro
From 105K App Store ratingsWhat 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
Mini Metro
Reported bugs
3 issues- Leaderboard issues with daily challenges
- Crashes and compatibility problems on certain devices
- Unexpected behavior when trains skip stations
Requested features
5 requests- Undo/redo functionality
- Ability to create branching lines
- More detailed statistics and analytics
- Additional game modes (e.g. career, scenarios)
- Integration with real-world transit data
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
Mini Metro
No in-app purchases
Balatro
No in-app purchases









