Every now and then a line clicks Balatro, the hot new poker game with a roguelite twist. The random number generator is on my side as I draw a series of buffs that fit perfectly: It's Half Joker (+20 to the multiplier for hands with three or fewer cards) drawn when I upgrade pair, three of a kind, and high card hands, topped off with a Supernova (the number of times a poker hand has been played is added to the multiplier), Burnt Joker (upgrades your first discarded hand) and Space Joker (a one-in-four chance to upgrade a played hand poker hand). Add extra dressed cards, some stone cards (which add chips) and buffs to these too, and it feels hard not to win.

To describe this build in simpler terms, they are a series of buffs that favor small, heavily upgraded hands with high scoring cards and lots of multipliers. These buffs all work together in Balatro's satisfyingly interconnected system to create a sort of synergistic harmony that these games thrive on.

A build like this isn't easy to put together, especially if the luck of the draw isn't on your side. But when you get it just right, a deck like this feels like you've cracked Balatro wide open — like you're cheating. And it feels so, so good.

I'm not the only one who sees the appeal: Balatro raised more than $1 million within hours of its release in late February, according to GamesIndustry.biz. The game was profitable within an hour of going live, publisher Playstack told the paper. The appeal of the game lies in how simple it is in practice: just get the score up by playing poker hands. A run takes place over eight sequences (called antes), each of which consists of three rounds (called blinds). With each round, the points required to continue increase — so to keep playing, you'll need to upgrade your cards and add various modifiers using the aforementioned jokers to collect ever-larger numbers. When you lose, you erase all progress towards the eighth and final ante. (However, you can continue playing in infinite mode if you beat the entire run.) The randomness of the cards available in the shop between rounds means there are never two identical runs, making Balatro feel infinitely replayable.