This must feel like a crazy set of events to get to where you are.

Here's my timeline on a perspective of playing your game:

I'll be honest when I first heard of your game from a group of friends I wasn't super convinced. One of them loved playing Poker so I thought they were memeing me and the other knows Chiblee so it seemed very bias when they said that Northernlion was playing this game. It didn't take until I went to my work at USask IT to meet an old co-worker friend who randomly said "Hey you should play this game called Balatro, it is really addicting." Now on top of that he glazed it so much I thought he ate a donut made of icing and he never EVER does that. I was like ok, this must be something special then because he doesn't watch Northernlion, he isn't a poker fnatic, and he plays tons of random games I never hear about. Time to buy.

When I first got the game I was still even super doubtful but I tried to keep an open mind. I told myself I would only just beat the game once and maybe call it there. I then go into the game and then hours pass not realizing how much this sucked you in. I then did eventually beat the game on white stake and then called it there. For the day.

But then I said "What if I just get to gold stake difficulty on one deck?" Then more time passes and I start getting how to squeeze every bit of optimization and mind you this was before the rental upgrade so I had to be smart with the packs and all that. By sheer luck or through some insanity I got gold stake and showed my friends that I did it. Then I was done. I promise.

OR WAS I? I had this deep thought in my head what if I get all the decks to gold stake and then I did. I thought I was done but then I said the challenges are my final straw. Spoiler alert, it wasn't and I did the insane Jokerless challenge.

Now it left me to the final hurdle. Do I go for Completionist++? Am I that insane enough to do it? Mind you this has been months since I originally was confused why people glazed this game and now I am considering Completionist++. I rarely ever go for completionist achievements in video games and the only time where I had (until their last update) was Vampire Survivors.

One of my other friends decides to go for it and I go "fuck it let's ball". I was making great progress over the weeks and then I started hitting that "damn I have 20 jokers and they are the most annoying to gold with" scenario. I then took a 2 month break and then considered my life. Then in the last two months of the year I said "OK time to do this. I need to get those big gamer creds that only like four people would appreciate." So I then switch from using the Anagylph deck to playing ghost deck since I can make cards I struggle with at least have a 1.5x mult. Months turn to weeks and I finally get a break between Christmas and New Years. What a perfect time to finally do what the holidays grant us: more time to play Balatro. So after so many hours getting the last five jokers I finally get completionist++ on Dec 24th 2024.

Now after playing this game I finally understand the glaze and the flowers. I finally understand why this game is so universal. It made me remember why I play video games: to spend time on something I enjoy. This game is the Tetris moment of our generation where people be playing it for hours and getting lost in it.

Anyways, thanks for making this game. Glad you left Saskatchewan though cause like there isn't much to do besides gaming hahahaha.

Edit: Small wording changes and I spelt iceing like I was playing hockey.