The best moment in Balatro is when the multiplier lands and the score jumps. Two PerDiem puzzles are built around that moment: Theorem and Stacks. Neither is a roguelike. There's no shop, no run and no deck to build. What they share is the arithmetic: a small base, rules that multiply it, and a day's modifiers that decide which plays are worth it.
PerDiem Games isn't affiliated with Balatro, LocalThunk or Playstack.
Theorem: base times multiplier
In Theorem you swap tiles on a grid. Every tile has a shape, a color and a number from 1 to 5. Three rules each day say what counts, like same color side by side, or three rising left to right.
Your score is base × multiplier. The base starts as the sum of the tile numbers, which never changes when you swap. The multiplier starts at 1, and every match of every rule adds 1. Purple rules also add to the base, so they help twice.
Here's a small one. The tiles add up to 27. You make 4 same-color pairs, 1 rising row, and 2 pairs that sum to 5, where each sum-to-5 adds 5 to the base.
Multiplier: 1 + 4 + 1 + 2 = 8 Base: 27 + (2 × 5) = 37 Score: 37 × 8 = 296
Find one more same-color pair without breaking anything and it's 37 × 9 = 333. That's the Balatro feeling: one more match is worth more than it looks.
You get three submits per grid, on Easy, Medium and Hard. Gold on all three opens Extreme, a 6 by 6 with a few tiles locked in place. Read how to play Theorem.
Stacks: bonuses first, then multipliers
Stacks deals a grid of playing cards, aces through 5s only. You drag through touching cards that share a suit or rank, score the stack, and do it six times. Cards above fall into the gap.
The ranks are small on purpose. The three daily modifiers do the work. Some add points, like "4 or more cards: +20". Some multiply, like "End on a spade: ×2". Some change which cards link, like clubs counting as every suit. Bonuses go on first, then multipliers, and two multipliers multiply each other.
Build 4♥ 4♠ A♠ 2♠ on a day with "+20 for 4 or more" and "×2 ending on a spade": 11 in ranks, 31 with the bonus, 62 doubled. The same cards ending on the 4♥ score 31. The Flip button reverses a stack, so you can start on the spade, chain away from it, and flip.
The modifiers get trickier through the week, and by Sunday they pull against each other. Read how to play Stacks.
What's different from Balatro?
- One puzzle a day. Everyone gets the same grid and the same modifiers.
- No luck between players. In Stacks the cards that fall in come from the day's fixed deck, so the same play gets the same cards for everyone.
- Medals against the game's own best. Each day the game searches for a strong score, and bronze, silver and gold are set from it. In Theorem, the results show you the best board it found.
- No timer. Take as long as you want.
- Free, in a browser. No account needed. Sign in for daily leaderboards and a friends board.
Try next
- Cliques: dominoes that grow groups, and every group scores again each time it grows.
- Packline: draw district lines so the smaller side wins.
More on puzzles with medals and card games.