One of the biggest 2024 indie games got squeezed onto a calculator
Balatro is an extremely successful deck-building poker-inspired roguelike that has built a strong following since its release in 2024. Now, a fan project has taken the game to unusual hardware: a NumWorks graphing calculator. Reddit user "RKI3000" shared progress on a Python-based port of Balatro (see below), running on the NumWorks microPython environment. The script is currently about 700 lines long, occupying 20.9 KB - roughly half of the calculator’s script storage capacity.
Despite the constraints, the port already includes a 52-card deck, proper scoring mechanics, hand and discard limits, and a modular structure that allows hand sizes and card sets to be adjusted. A Joker sprite has also been added, though the Joker mechanic itself is not yet implemented.
Hardware limitations have proven to be the biggest challenge so far. Even when staying below the script size limit, the calculator’s small RAM fills quickly. To save space, sprites are encoded with run-length encoding (RLE), though this approach still pushes memory usage close to the limit. In response, the developer and community members have talked about techniques such as sprite mirroring, compact binary encoding, and using the calculator’s built-in font to reduce reliance on custom graphics.
The project blew up on the r/Balatro subreddit shortly after it was posted. Users were drawing comparisons to memory-saving methods to those used in NES games. Since NumWorks calculators do not include speakers, the project is currently limited to visuals only.
The user stated that has indicated plans to release the script once it is more complete. While some compromises are inevitable given the device’s restrictions, it's still a pretty cool port regardless.
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