Loot boxes suck but the only thing separating this game from gambling is the use of real money. It's literally a poker game.
This is the Steam Store description -
Combine valid poker hands with unique Joker cards in order to create varied synergies and builds. Earn enough chips to beat devious blinds, all while uncovering hidden bonus hands and decks as you progress. You’re going to need every edge you can get in order to reach the boss blind, beat the final ante and secure victory.
Yeah they were always going to get PEGI 18. This moaning is just a way to sell their game.
Yatzhee is dice. It uses combinations of numbers. They turn into points. Before you make any other ridiculous comparisons the idea is to perform to standard. Not to lower the standard. Gambling is a serious addiction and making games about it is a serious issue.
In Balatro, the Ante is the boss's health and chips are the amount of damage done to a boss. The poker hands are just attacks done to the boss's health. They use poker terms because it's inspired by card games, not because there's gambling.
I didn't say there was and neither did PEGI. The issue is all the terminology and visuals are gambling related. This is like giving a cigarette smoker a nicotine vape and saying it's not cigarettes. It's technically true but you'd be insane to authorize it for kids.
Whether it's candy cigarettes or a nicotine vape depends purely on the person playing the game. A gambling addict could easily see this as their nicotine vape, and it could easily prime kids for casinos.
The whole point of the post is real gambling is rated as totally safe for kids. As long as it doesn't use card or poker chips as imagery. Why is getting kids to actually gamble ok? Why is imagery associated with gambling so much worse than actual gambling for kids?
Whether it's candy cigarettes or a nicotine vape depends purely on the person playing the game. A gambling addict could easily see this as their nicotine vape, and it could easily prime kids for casinos.
So then explain why games with actual real money gambling aren't rated 18+, is gambling "imagery" with no gambling really that much worse than having actual gambling?
Balatro doesn't have anything like gambling. There's no betting. You don't even have an opponent. The chips are only points, and the goal is to get as high a score as you can. The rules vary wildly from poker in ways that could never work with multiple players, let alone with real cards. It just looks like poker at the start and that description helps give you an initial idea of how to play.