Balatro Could Have Been Called Joker Poker

Summary

• Not every game title is a hit -- some end up falling flat like Big Mutha Truckers or Elite Dangerous.
• Balatro could have been called Joker Poker and a slew of other titles, according to the game's creator.
• The pronunciation of Balatro varies, but just don't confuse it with the movie Balto.

Gaming is often chock-full of amazing and iconic titles. There's series, like The Legend of Zelda and The Last of Us, as well as one-off games, like The Saboteur or Sleeping Dogs. Of course, not every game title is a ringing success or endorsement. There are some notoriously bad video game titles, like Big Mutha Truckers or Elite Dangerous, that really make you scratch your head.

And, of course, we'd be remiss if we didn't mention the scrapped titles. For example, the game we know and love called Half Life could have ended up as Pressure or Bent. As it turns out, the breakout indie hit Balatro is no exception. In fact, it had so many potential titles that it really makes you wonder what could have been.

Taking to Twitter, the creator of the rougelike card game shared a list of potential names that his popular title could have taken. The list is a doozy, and it ranges from "That's great," to "What does that mean?"

Balatro Is My Full Circle Moment With Card Games

I used to hate playing tabletop games, but Balatro has me devoting hours to playing poker.

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Personally, we're major fans of the Joker Poker title. And it turns out that LocalThunk, the game's sole developer, almost went with it. In an interview with Game Informer, LocalThunk shared that he settled on Balatro because he believed it ultimately represented his vision, though Joker Poker was a close second. Unfortunately, there's a real-life hangup as to why that didn't happen.

"It was previously called Joker Poker as a working title. But I think there's an app on the App Store that had the same name," he shared. "And I also thought it was a little silly compared to kind of the vibe I was going for in the game. I'm glad I changed it to Balatro"

Speaking of Balatro, according to its creator, there is no wrong way to pronounce it. Just don't confuse it with the movie called Balto.

"There's two main camps," he shared. "There's the 'Bal-a-tro' and the 'Bah-Lah-tro.' But I do see the joke a lot of 'Oh Balatro, is that that movie with the dog and Alaska?'

"So I do see Balto a lot. I do see "Bell-a-tro" [with] like 'E.' The lesson here is that the name itself is not very marketable."

Regardless of how you pronounce it, there's no denying that Balatro is a bonafide classic. Now, here's hoping someone takes one of these scrapped names and uses it for a different title.

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