Balatro allows the player to collect Jokers that modify the rules of the game. These mirror the composition of sports teams in a few ways:
- You are resource-limited when acquiring them and can only acquire the ones you can afford
- Each one gives you a capability to exploit a new advantage in the game
- You are limited to a finite number of slots they can be placed in (a la the 5 on 5 nature of basketball)
- You may need to end relationships with some to take on others
- In Balatro, some jokers diminish in usefulness across time. This is true for all athletes.
I would love to model this in a card game. I’m not sure what the actual game is, but I think this aspect of Balatro nicely encapsulate a lot of real life sports team management that could make for a fun game.
Mechanics
- Place cards on the court
- Cards have bonuses at different spots
- Multiplayer?
- Place cards on defense
- Cards on defense can mitigate other cards’ advantages
- Defensive placement can affect offensive cards’ success rates
- How to balance both single and multiplayer
- Trades and drafts to obtain more cards
- hidden scoring like Balatro