I see what the creator of Balatro meant: this pachinko roguelike's Steam Next Fest demo is dangerously hard to put down

Ballionaire
(Image credit: newobject)

When the creator of roguelike hit Balatro emphatically recommends a roguelike in Steam Next Fest, you've at least gotta check it out. Not knowing what to expect, I gave Ballionaire a quick download and then, whoops, 20 minutes passed in a blink. I should probably get some work done, I thought. And then I played more of the Ballionaire demo. Now here I am, spreading my affliction with minutes left in my work day.

Ballionaire is a pachinko roguelike about building the wackiest Rube Goldberg machine you can in order to make as much money as possible and meet increasing cash thresholds. So far, each round starts with just one plain dropped ball, but as that ball triggers and collides with the gadgets and bumpers and bonkers and other absurdities you place on the board, that can quickly become an army of balls. Gold balls, flame balls, water balls, anti-gravity balls – it's all balls down here. 

Ballionaire | Partnership Announcement! - YouTube Ballionaire | Partnership Announcement! - YouTube
Watch On

After each round, you get a roguelike draft for passive boons and/or new bonkers to put on the board, slowly assembling a path for your all-important balls. The thing is, this is pachinko, one of the purest games of chance around. All you're really doing is constructing an ideal path. Sure, your ball might bounce off this to trigger this to spawn that which will double that and reset that and fly into that. But your ball could also go sailing into an abyss of nothingness that you created by foolishly concentrating all your high-value bonkers too low on the board. Not that I would know. 

This is some of the highest praise I can give a roguelike: it takes about 11 seconds to learn how Ballionaire works, and it is dangerously easy to just keep playing. The sights! The sounds! The numbers. Look at that pachinko ball go. The pings and bonks and ka-chings and honks are a spirited chorus to the dream run for the little ball that could, generating twice your next cash target in a single drop. Developer newobject is bang-on: this is "brain-tickling fun." 

Here are the 25 best roguelike games to play for run after run. 

CATEGORIES
Austin Wood
Senior writer

Austin has been a game journalist for 12 years, having freelanced for the likes of PC Gamer, Eurogamer, IGN, Sports Illustrated, and more while finishing his journalism degree. He's been with 12DOVE since 2019. They've yet to realize his position is a cover for his career-spanning Destiny column, and he's kept the ruse going with a lot of news and the occasional feature, all while playing as many roguelikes as possible.

Read more
Balatro
Balatro creator started "properly playing the game myself about a week before launch" and had "a pretty emotional moment" where he realized it's "actually fun"
ben starr dressed in harequinn makeup chomping down on a banana
Balatro maker promises that the dodgiest odds in the hit roguelike aren't deceiving you
Balatro Joker art
Balatro creator was "shocked" at his poker roguelike's high review scores: "I don’t think I would have rated Balatro higher than an 8 and I made the damn thing"
The King is Watching
This roguelike city-builder casts you as a benevolent Lord of the Rings villain, and its Steam Next Fest demo accidentally consumed my entire evening
A successful roll against a talking bass fish in Moves of the Diamond Hand
Baldur's Gate 3 has a new contender in this Steam Next Fest RPG demo filled with talking fish, clones, and very violent bubble tea
A screenshot shows the pixel art characters of Angeline Era floating through stars.
The devs of a legendary indie Zelda-like have a new retro action game with "bumpslash" combat, and its Steam Next Fest demo is a gem: "Fans of Ys, take note!"
Latest in Roguelike
Deep Rock Galactic Survivor
Deep Rock Galactic Survivors devs were scared the roguelike spin might not sell, but thankfully they have "one of the most active communities on the planet"
Vampire Survivors
Vampire Survivors devs launch official wiki "free of ads, banners, and all of the junk that gets in your way," joining Stardew Valley and Terraria in community wikis with minimal intrusions
Wall World 2
The $5 roguelike banger that turned Terraria into a sci-fi tower defense game is getting a bigger, deeper sequel
Balatro
Balatro creator hits back at AI art spread on the roguelike's subreddit: "I don't use it in my game, I think it does real harm to artists of all kinds"
Balatro Joker card
After stepping away from Balatro for 3 months, the developer only resumed work "because I was bored but the internet was out so I couldn't play Rocket League"
ben starr dressed in harlequin makeup chomping down on a banana
Balatro creator says it's "useless" for him to give advice to other devs because "I only have one data point" and it was a 5 million-sale success story
Latest in News
First Berserker: Khazan screenshot showing two characters engaged in battle
Compare it to FromSoftware all you want, but the devs on this extremely promising hardcore action RPG say they're making "more than just a Soulslike"
Old School RuneScape Smite collab
MMO scholar puts a $500 bounty on old versions of RuneScape as part of a community archive project: "You might have ALL of the game's lost versions!"
Khazan holding a red glowing sword during the upcoming PS5 game, The First Berserker: Khazan.
"Games are meant to be engaging, not exhausting": Lead dev on promising Soulslike RPG pushes balanced difficulty because "if stress keeps piling up without relief, players will eventually want to quit"
A meeting inside one of Chrono Cross' cathedrals
There's never been a better time to play Chrono Trigger than on its 30th anniversary as the all-time JRPG great is just $4 in Steam Spring Sale
The Surrender
The Boys star's new horror movie gets great first reactions calling it "truly terrifying" featuring some of the "best performances" of 2025 so far
Ender Magnolia screenshot showing a spirit shooting at a monster enemy
One of the best new Metroidvanias just got a huge update with New Game+ and heaps more content like a boss rush mode