Fans say it's got to be more than just Balatro. We've spent over 11,000 years together playing Balatro.

What do the domestication and sacking of Rome, the Bronze Age collapse, American Revolution, the Moon landing, and the founding of Rome have in common with each other? You're right: you could fit all of them in the time we spent playing dangerously moreish cardbuilder Balatro, and still have a few millennia to spare.

LocalThunk, the creator of the game, made this statement in a blog post on X's "The Everything App." Mssr Thunk wrote in a post, which should have prompted us to reflect on ourselves but instead sparked our pride: "Balatro is cumulatively played across all platforms for over 11,000 year."

"I think you are only counting my time," wrote one fan. Another fan wrote, "I suspect I've done at the very least a thousand." Others worry that their bosses might find out how much time they spend playing. Can't relate, personally. One of the perks of working in videogames media is that my bosses probably account for a significant portion of those 11,000+ years.

Why wouldn't they do that? If you couldn't tell from the civilisational time we've spent on it, Balatro really is a great game. It's a deckbuilder that's perfect for those who aren't into deckbuilders. It's a poker game for those who don’t know the difference between a royal flush and a pair of twos. And it's a game that you can play in five minutes, or five hours.

Abbie Stone, in our Balatro Review, gave the game a 91% rating and described it as "eerily gorgeous" and "utterly hypnotic". It will keep you playing for hours and hours as you play. Plus, it is on phones, which makes it a looming danger to global productivity. I'm fairly sure the Fed will need to step in. 11,000 years? I'm going to be honest. I think that's just a drop in a bucket compared with the time we will have spent on the project.