The trend of gambling-inspired games emerged in the wake of the deck-building poker roguelike Balatro. Recipe? Take a standard game of chance that you can find in any casino and mix in countless bells and whistles, gadgets and quirks, then dress it up in a “one more turn” roguelike outfit and make it as actual and powerful as humanly possible. There is no shortage of these gamblers during the ongoing Steam Next Fest, but here is one demo this stood out. Ballionaire is a colorful pachinko-inspired roguelike game, but you choose where the crazy widgets go.
It’s simpler than it might seem in the chaos of the trailer. You drop the ball from the top of the board and watch it bounce off the pins. You earn money for every little bumper or amusing toy the ball hits along the way. Some of these bumpers (called “triggers”) will have special functions. The ax will cut your ball in half, allowing it to fall in multiple directions, activating even more gadgets. The teleporter will bring your ball back to the top of the board, allowing it to drop back down. You can get different types of balls, designed after classic elements such as fire, water and a chicken egg (placing a carton of eggs somewhere will catch the eggs for passive egg income).
As you progress from level to level it gets weirder, looking for bigger payouts to appease the gods. You can install a diminutive patch of cacti that will make money NO hit, then try to keep the ball away from them by surrounding the plants with other bumpers. Or you can go culinary by placing a tomato, some bread and a block of cheese in a neat little cluster that your ball will collect when it hits. Place a pan underneath that will combine it all into a meal for extra dollars before the large open mouth at the bottom of the board can mock it all up.
Try the demo version. To continue. Steam Next Fest is coming to an end (ends on Monday) and it’s a frivolous and fun hour of ball whacking (ahem). This isn’t the first time pachinko has inspired a video game. Both Peggle and Peglin owe something to the poppy buzz of the established Japanese slot machine.
When it comes to the recent surge in popularity of gambling-themed games, it’s worth considering because there are already enough questionable practices in the gaming industry when it comes to psychological tactics in free-to-play and MMO games. But at least the creator of Balatro, for example, took such concerns into account, even writing in his will that the game should not be co-opted by the gambling industry.
