Maverick is, at the time of writing, working on clearing all Balatro decks on all difficulties. In this article, he returns to the first question he had about the game: when do Balatro Bonuses stack?
Three Sets of Bonuses You Can Stack
The answer to this question does exist in the game, but it’s a bit hidden away. In the collection menu of the game, when you select “Enhanced Cards”, “Seals” or “Editions”, we see the following:
In other words, you can stack up to 3 bonuses on one card, as long as it’s one bonus from each category. Applying a bonus to a card that already has a bonus of that type will overwrite it.
There are 8 Enhancements, 3 Special Editions (4 for Jokers) and 4 Seals. In theory, this makes for 96 bonus combinations, some with more synergy than others. In reality, this is rare. Enhancements come by often but Editions and Seals less so. Stacking all 3, like below, happens rarely:

Determining Which Bonuses Stack
We now know the theory behind bonus stacking in Balatro. To apply it, however, we need to be able to distinguish the 3 different sets. This is easy enough for Seals, which are a small Joker stamp on the top left of the card. The wording for adding a Seal to a card is also pretty clear.
The other 2 are a bit harder to distinguish. They come from different sources, but that only helps so much when determining if they can stack with existing bonuses. Here is a high-level visual overview, after which we’ll study the bonuses in more detail per category:
Card Enhancements
There are 8 Card Enhancements in Balatro. They are the most common bonus. They appear regularly in card packs and can be applied through Tarot Cards. These bonuses stack with Special Editions and Seals (see below), but not with each other.
- Bonus Cards score 30 extra chips when part of a scoring hand. These extra chips are then multiplied by your Multi-value, so they synergize well with Mult Cards.
- Mult(i) Cards increase your Multi-value by 4 when part of a scoring hand. They synergize well when you score them with Bonus Cards, Jokers that multiply your Multi-value and Foil Edition Cards.
- Wild Cards can be used as any suit, making it easier to get a Flush, Straight Flush, Flush House or Flush Five.
- Glass Cards double your Multi-value when part of a scoring hand but have a 25% chance of breaking each time they are scored.
- Steel Cards increase your Multi-value by 1.5 when they stay in your hand (in other words, when you play a hand that does not include them)
- Stone Cards score 50 points and have no rank and no suit. They score when added to a scoring hand (meaning they will increase the value of e.g., a Three of a Kind). If you find a Special Edition Stone Card, you may actually consider overwriting it with another enhancement, so it can be used in 5-card hands.
- Gold Cards give you $3 when you beat the Blind while they are still in your hand, without you playing them.
- Lucky Cards give you 20% to increase your Multiplier by 20 and a 1 in 15 chance to earn you $20 when part of a scoring hand.
Special Editions
Special Editions are much rarer than Card Enhancements. You can only apply them to existing Playing Cards through Spectral Cards. If you’re lucky, you may also find them in Card Packs directly. These bonuses stack with Card Enhancements and Seals (see below), but not with each other.
This is the only Bonus Type that does not apply to just Playing Cards but to Jokers as well (though there they cannot stack).
- Foil Cards score 50 extra chips when part of a scoring hand. They are a stronger version of the Bonus Card Enhancement and synergize well with Mult Cards. If you’re lucky, you may even get both bonuses on the same card.
- Holographic Cards increase your Multi-value by 10 when part of a scoring hand. They are a much stronger version of the Mult Card Enhancement and synergize well with Bonus Cards.
- Polychrome Cards multiply your Multi-value by 1.5 when part of a scoring hand. If you have Jokers that add a flat amount to your Multi-value when scoring them, it is important you place a Polychrome Card after those cards. That way, they also multiply that flat Multi-value. You can rearrange cards without it breaking your hand, e.g., 6 – 7 – 9 – 10 -8 with a Polychrome 8 is still a straight.
Balatro Seals
You can find Playing Cards with Seals in packs or add them to existing Playing Cards through Spectral Cards. They are rare, but not quite as rare as Special Editions. Spectral Cards applying a Seal also don’t come with the drawbacks Special Edition Spectral Cards have. Seal Bonuses stack with Card Enhancements and Special Editions, but not with each other.
- Gold Seals give you $3 when part of a scoring hand. This gives them reverse synergy with the Gold Card Enhancement, since those cards need to stay in your hand. Combining the 2 of them unlocks a joker, however, so you want to do it at least once.
- Red Seals trigger a card twice. They synergize well with all bonuses (and even give extra chips for cards without bonuses), but some stand out more than others. Glass Cards will multiply your Multi-value by 4 when they have a Red Seal (2×2). Polychrome and Steel Cards will multiply your Multi-value by 2.25 (1.5 x 1.5). Lucky Cards with a Red Seal are less dependent on Random Number Generation.
- Blue Seals give a Planet Card of the last played hand when you beat a Blind. It’s a powerful effect for most builds, but gives reverse synergy with everything but the Steel and Gold bonuses.
- Purple Seals give you a Tarot Card when you discard them. This gives them reverse synergy with all other card bonuses. They are best used on Playing Cards not part of your build (e.g., when you are building a Heart Flush Deck, you may want to stick it on a Spade or Club card).
Joker Bonuses
As we stated before, Jokers can only have Special Editions and no other bonuses. Jokers can also be Negative, which is a Special Edition Playing Cards cannot have (as it would be useless on them). That means that in total, Jokers can have 1 of 4 bonuses:
Foil: adds 50 extra chips to the total score of each played hand.
- Holographic: adds 10 to your Multi-value each played hand.
- Polychrome: multiplies your total Multi-value by 1.5. You want to have these jokers on the right in the majority of the cases. That way they also multiply the flat additions to your Multi-value (from Holographic Jokers or the regular effects of Jokers).
- Negative: these Jokers increase your total Joker limit by 1. This essentially means the joker is “free” in that it takes up one spot in your roster, but also increases your roster capacity by 1.
Joker Bonuses can appear randomly in Buffoon Packs and on Jokers in the shop. There are Vouchers that increase the odds of this happening. You can also add a bonus to an existing Joker through Spectral Cards, though this comes with a negative side effect. Lastly, some Tags (bonuses for skipping a Blind) will make the next Joker to appear in the shop free and give it a guaranteed bonus.
Unlike with Playing Cards, you cannot overwrite a Bonus on a Joker.