The indie darling of 2024, Balatro, has unexpectedly made its way onto Netflix’s dystopian anthology series, Black Mirror.
The game pops up in the latest season and while I'm completely blown away, there were hints earlier today that something was coming, starting with an ominous tweet from the Balatro team:
You might want to take a close look in the Mirror today.April 10, 2025
The post, which reads "you may want to take a close lookin the Mirror today" looks innocent enough. I must admit I scrolled straight past it, until others have since pointed out that capitilized Mirror is no mistake!
Balatro is in Episode 3 of the new season of Black Mirror 'Hotel Reverie'
Balatro makes its appearance in Episode 3 of Season 7, titled Hotel Reverie. At precisely 8 minutes and 55 seconds into the episode, you’ll see one of the characters playing the game on their laptop.
As someone who hasn’t finished watching the new season, I jumped straight to the scene to grab a screenshot, careful to avoid spoilers. For dedicated fans of the series (and Balatro), it’s a fun little Easter egg worth looking for
Charlie Brooker was addicted to Balatro, just like the rest of us
Comments by creator Charlie Brooker months ago in an interview should have warned us that this was coming, as he confessed his love for the roguelike poker game while working on the series.
In an interview with Deadline back in August 2024, Brooker mentioned he was playing Balatro "This is going to sound so tragic, but right now there’s a game called Balatro. It’s like poker, and it’s possibly the most addictive thing ever created. It’s currently on Nintendo Switch and Steam deck, but it’s going to be released on phones, and at that point I think humankind’s activity is going to drop about 25%. I play that in short bursts when I’m writing to reward myself."
What Brooker didn't mention was that Balatro is also on Xbox Game Pass now, but we'll forgive him, it wasn't back when this interview was written.
He also shared that he loved Ghosts of Tshushima and Dave the Diver, perhaps both of these games will make an appearance too?
