Balatro took the basic game mechanics of a very familiar game and said “what if they were dynamic”. The world’s a big place and I’m willing to believe it’s been done before… but I can’t think of one.

It’s the combination of familiar scoring mechanics with fun meta game modifiers that made Balatro so successful. What happens to poker if two of a kind is suddenly the most important hand? Or if not playing face cards leads to incrementally better scores every hand?

Again, I can’t claim it’s never been done, but saying it’s just another deck builder is missing the point.