Balatro: what does the Showman Joker do?

Balatro's Showman Joker function and strategy explained

Jokers are the lifeblood of any Balatro run. They’re powerful cards that give you chips, multipliers, and other strong effects that can turn a 20-chip pair into 2 million chips if you’ve set it up right. With 150 Jokers in the game, there are bound to be a few with complicated effects that aren’t easy to understand, especially when trying to consider all the different ways it can interact with other Jokers.

We’ve picked out the Showman Joker and will explain to you how it works, and the ways it can turn your run into something amazing.

Balatro: what does the Blank Voucher do?

What does the Balatro Showman Joker do?

Playstack

The Showman Joker allows cards of the same type to appear multiple times in situations where they otherwise wouldn’t. For example, when opening a booster pack of Tarot or Planet cards, each card could normally only appear once in a single pack, but the Showman Joker allows them to appear again.

This can be a hindrance in some scenarios, but the biggest benefit is that it allows the same Joker card to appear multiple times in the shop (except another Showman Joker). It requires some luck – which is why it isn’t considered a top-tier card – but if you find a powerful Joker you really like, you could stack it on top of itself for some crazy multipliers.