Joker Card Game Rating System “Rollercoaster”: Gambling Elements Assessment Sparks Controversy

In February 2025, PEGI issued an announcement stating that the fantasy elements in Balatro, a card-based roguelike game, reduced its gambling content. Consequently, the game's age rating was revised to 12+.

Currently, the publicly displayed age rating for Balatro has also been adjusted to 12+.

PART 1

Balatro's Age Rating Faces Unexpected Setbacks

Balatro (commonly known as the Joker Card game) has experienced a series of unexpected twists in 2024. Within 72 hours of its release, the game surpassed 250,000 copies sold across all platforms. It continues to receive overwhelmingly positive reviews on Steam and has garnered multiple awards in the gaming industry.

However, shortly after its release, the game was abruptly pulled from console stores in regions including Europe, North America, and Japan. According to publisher Playstack, this removal stemmed from regulators deeming the game to involve gambling. Rating authorities abruptly changed its age rating from 3+ to 18+ without prior warning.

A closer look at Playstack's announcement reveals that Joker Cards was initially rated 18+ during its submission for review. Following Playstack's appeal, the rating committee stated that classifying the game as gambling-related was unfounded and ultimately set the rating at 3+.

Just when Playstack thought they could breathe easy, another blow struck: the rating agency once again changed the rating to 18+. The rating agency's back-and-forth changes on this game's classification are truly baffling.

PART 2

The “Awkwardness” of Gambling Elements in Rating Systems

PEGI's recent revision also represents a reassessment of its existing rating criteria. According to PEGI's official standards, content such as violence, profanity, fear, gambling, sexuality, drugs, and discrimination all influence a game's rating. Regarding gambling-related content, PEGI evaluates games that encourage or teach gambling activities (simulated gambling refers to games typically played in casinos or gambling halls). Since 2020, any game containing such content is uniformly rated PEGI 18. Prior to this, such games might have received a PEGI 12 or PEGI 16 rating.

Notably, while PEGI rated Joker Cards as 12+, its rating statement explicitly states: “This game is rated PEGI 12 due to gambling themes.”

Regardless of whether Joker Cards truly contains gambling elements, the rating body's justification for this classification likely fails to align with existing rating standards. After all, current guidelines mandate a PEGI 18 rating for any game incorporating gambling elements. It's unclear whether PEGI opted for a compromise rating under pressure from multiple appeals by Playstack and public scrutiny. In its “Specific Content” commentary, PEGI justified the rating by stating: “The game employs traditional gambling themes and elements. However, as gameplay progresses, it mitigates this by incorporating fantasy elements distinct from conventional poker mechanics, without glorifying or encouraging real-life gambling or betting.” "PEGI sought to rationalize the game's new rating while simultaneously highlighting its gambling-related content.

Of course, PEGI acknowledged in its announcement the existing issues with rating gambling elements under current standards. It also proposed developing a more detailed classification system to address gambling themes, simulations, instruction, and glorification of gambling across different age groups.

PART 3

Even if it merely borrows the shell of gambling mechanics, it will affect the game's rating.

Although Joker Card's rating has fluctuated, the one constant is PEGI's classification of its gambling elements. On the surface, Joker Cards appears to blend Texas Hold'em poker with tower-climbing roguelike mechanics. However, at its core, it merely borrows the shell of Texas Hold'em while retaining roguelike DBG gameplay as its fundamental mechanics. Despite this, the rating committee prioritized evaluating its gambling elements during assessment, which remain a significant factor influencing Joker Cards' classification.

This rating revision also reveals PEGI's stance: any game incorporating gambling elements or mechanics may be deemed to contain gambling factors. In other words, based on the game's external presentation, the mere presence of gambling elements—even if merely borrowing the shell of a gambling mechanic—will fall under the “gambling” category in ratings. However, future ratings may not necessarily all fall under PEGI 18.

Beyond PEGI, similar practices exist in other countries and regions. Previously, a limited-time guessing game event in a certain title was flagged by South Korea's GRAC for containing gambling elements, leading to a rating correction. This occurred even though user participation required completing tasks to earn access, and rewards consisted solely of virtual goods with no monetary value. This illustrates that even limited-time events with uncertain probability factors can attract regulatory scrutiny and trigger changes to a game's overall rating.

In certain jurisdictions, gambling elements directly impact game classification. For instance, the ESRB in the United States assigns games featuring simulated gambling mechanics a minimum rating of T (Teen), while conventional simulated gambling games are typically rated T. In Taiwan's rating standards, gambling mechanics primarily appear in ratings of 12+ and above. The key distinction lies in whether such mechanics involve the gain or loss of in-game currency. Therefore, game companies must exercise extreme caution when implementing gambling mechanics. Even the slightest misstep could result in an element being labeled as “gambling,” leading to an inappropriate rating classification.