Home News > Debug Menu Guide: Unlocking Cheats in Balatro

Debug Menu Guide: Unlocking Cheats in Balatro

by Mila Feb 14,2025

Balatro, the 2024 breakout hit selling over 3.5 million copies and earning multiple Game Awards, maintains immense popularity. However, mastering its mechanics might leave players seeking new challenges. While mods offer one solution, accessing Balatro's built-in developer debug menu provides an alternative, preserving achievements. This guide details how to enable and utilize this cheat menu.

Enabling Cheats in Balatro

To activate Balatro's debug menu and cheats, you'll need 7-Zip (free, open-source software). Locate your Balatro installation directory (typically C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\Balatro). If unsure, find Balatro in your Steam library, right-click, select "Manage," then "Browse Local Files."

Right-click Balatro.exe and choose to open the archive with 7-Zip (may be under "Show More Options"). Locate conf.lua and open it with a text editor (like Notepad).

Change _RELEASE_MODE = true to _RELEASE_MODE = false, then save. If saving fails, extract conf.lua to your desktop, make the change, and replace the original file. The debug menu will now activate by holding the Tab key in-game. To disable, revert the _RELEASE_MODE parameter to true.

Using the Debug Menu in Balatro

The Balatro cheat menu is user-friendly. Unlock collectibles by hovering and pressing '1'; spawn jokers by hovering and pressing '3'. Initially limited to five jokers, pressing 'Q' four times on a joker in hand transforms it into a negative, effectively allowing unlimited jokers.

All Balatro Cheats (Hold Tab to Open Menu)

Cheat / Key	Effect
1	Unlock Collectible (hover over in collection)
2	Discover Collectible (hover over in collection)
3	Spawn Collectible (hover over in collection)
Q	Change Joker Edition (hover over in hand)
H	Isolate Background
J	Play Splash Animation
8	Toggle Cursor
9	Toggle All Tooltips
$10	Adds $10 to Total
+1 Round	Increases Round by 1
+1 Ante	Increases Ante by 1
+1 Hand	Adds one Hand
+1 Discard	Adds one Discard
Boss Reroll	Rerolls the Boss
Background	Removes Background
+10 Chips	Adds 10 Chips to Total
+10 Mult	Adds 10 to Multiplier
X2 Chips	Doubles Chip Total
X10 Mult	Increases Multiplier by 10
Win this Run	Completes Current Run
Lose this Run	Ends Current Run
Reset	Resets Current Run
Jimbo	Makes Jimbo Appear
Jimbo Talk	Makes Jimbo Text Box Appear