How do Planet Cards Work in Balatro?

While the main focus in Balatro is playing Poker hands to earn chips, there are extra card types that you can use for bonuses. This becomes incredibly beneficial as you need increasingly more chips to pass each round. Of these extra types, how do Planet cards work in Balatro?

What Planet Cards are and How to Use Them in Balatro

There are two main types of consumable cards in Balatro: Planet and Tarot cards. These cards appear randomly at the end of each round, allowing you to purchase and use them immediately or wait to use them. When you hover over the cards, they tell you what effect they have when used. However, Planet cards remain in effect for the rest of your current game, whereas Tarot Cards’ effect works only once.

So, if I have the Earth card, I can use it to upgrade Full Houses. This means that Full Houses gain a +2 Multiplier and +25 Chips on top of their default stats for the rest of my current game. In the images below, you can see the stats of a regular Full House without any upgrades. Then, it’s new stats after I upgrade it with the Earth card.

How Many Planet Cards Can I Have at a Time?

Planet cards, as consumables, are destroyed after you use them. However, that’s a good thing because you can only have two Planet or Tarot cards at a time. So, the Planet cards being destroyed after using them opens up space to hold Tarot cards, which you’ll want to save for specific hands.

And that’s how Planet cards work in Balatro. I try to have as many in effect at one time as I can, but I also end up going several rounds in a row without any appearing in my shop. As such, there’s a bit of RNG in effect when it comes to these. From here, check out our guide hub as we work to add content to help you progress!