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0 It’s not surprising that indie game devs can create experiences that delight us consistently. Many indie projects in recent years have been a direct result of game jams during the pandemic years. However, what does surprise me is the growing genre of rogue-like score attack games that take influence from casinos. Ballionaire, created by newojbect and published by Raw Fury, aims to be one of the most cartoonish and fun in this emerging genre.
The House always wins
Vampire Survivors famously draws its repeatable gameplay loop and old-school graphics from casino psychology. We’ve seen Balatro and Dungeons & Degenerate Gamblers bring poker and blackjack off the table and onto Steam Deck. Ballionaire adds penny drop machines/pachinko to the list, being self-described as a “fast-paced, kinetic rouge-like” that aims to reward theory-crafting in the new “autobonker” genre.
As I’ve logged 10 hours in the demo, and the team currently working hard on implementing feedback for the full release, I want to share what this ball-dropping cult has to offer.
It’s not a cult, Mom!
Billionaire’s theme is simple: capitalism.
You are looking to join a cult of ludicrously rich otherworldly entities by dropping a ball down a board to generate money. The board is filled with pegs that generate a single dollar when you bump into them and direct the drop. Simple enough.
There are no score zones at the bottom like the traditional game. Instead, you draft items with different effects that you can place on the board to reach an ever-increasing monetary threshold. Reach the threshold and you get to continue, obtaining more items to place and run-defining boon modifiers. Failing to reach the target means losing progress and starting a new run.
Items can vary from simple pinball-style bumpers that knock the ball away each time it’s hit, to a whale that can eat the ball and spawn more balls from its blowhole once certain conditions are met. And that’s not even the weirdest one.
Diversifying your revenue
Each item you draft has traits that can form themed synergies to rack up scores and multipliers. Some that I had the most fun playing with include a set of items that tasks you with picking up food ingredients you place on the board. Ingredients combine to create meals by passing through a chef’s pan. Big payouts come when delivering multiple meals and ingredients to a hungry mouth, which eats the ball and everything it is holding. Yes, chef!
Another set of items transforms the initial ball into a droplet of water. The aim is to keep spawning these balls to cause a massive cascade on the board, which hits every trigger placed, including the previously mentioned whale. When paired with respawning balls via teleporters, it became my favourite build when I understood the core loop, rewarding me with consistently making it rain.
The last item set I drafted turns Ballionaire into a choose-your-own-adventure novel, with the ball as the protagonist. You can place a sword for the ball to carry, enabling it to attack enemies by bonking into them. When slain, enemy blocks trigger various effects. In the demo I got to see the Greedling which syphons off the score from nearby triggers at the end of each drop, needing the sword in your early drafts to remove from the board. Another is the bombgoblin, a red smug face with a short fuse that spawns a variety of fire and debris balls in a pretty explosion when slain.
Table Service
I spent the most time during Ballionaire‘s demo on the default pyramid table due to its simplicity, with difficulty levels keeping me replaying.
Each level of difficulty gives you a limited amount of re-rolls and item removals (decreasing with difficulty) when starting a run, a set of limited starting pieces already placed on the board, and unique negative modifiers for each patron – three per run. From there it’s up to you to puzzle out what items are the smartest investment.
Some modifiers will make rerolls cost more. One enables the previously mentioned Greedlings, with another granting double health to them and all other enemy blocks. Another covers the board in thick smoke, limiting where you can place items until your ball cuts a path through it.
The demo did offer a circular ferris-wheel table which I played a couple of runs on. While a fun novelty, I did find it particularly challenging to come up with a strategy and place objects, due to the disorienting nature of the board constantly rotating. More boards are planned in the full release, so expect the new object team to come up with even weirder ideas for play spaces.
Presentation
The thing that stands out most about Ballionaire is just how much fun it has in its presentation. It effortlessly invites you to relax and just play one more drop.
The rubber balloon sound effects in some menus might cause some to have a “nails on chalkboard” reaction, but it’s full of colour and cartoonish charm. I could easily stickerbomb a notebook or phone case with Ballionaire‘s art style. When a majority of big-budget games are trying to be dynamic, highly tuned, and chasing the horizon of graphical realism, it’s nice to see something fun and creative here as a break from it all. Even if that takes the shape of a break-dancing stick figure wearing a pizza mask on the main menu.
Ballionaire‘s soundtrack also plays to this whimsical charm, with a catchy pop soundscape that whistles in the main menus. I mentioned how catchy it was to a few friends who were also playing, and they agreed the earworm was strong. There’s an ambience when patrons are being introduced that enhances the playful mysticism of these pseudo-satirical cult entities.
During gameplay, you have a simple woodwind, piano, and theremin or synth loop that supports the upbeat funfair vibe. It also provides a moment of calm from the cacophony of sound effects from the items you place on the board – explosions, squelches, rumbling thunder, and pinball bumpers – depending on how chaotic your money-making scheme is.
Phase 3: Profit.
All in all, Ballionaire is a very fun palette cleanser from some of the higher-budget games I currently have in my rotation. Come full release, I think it will occupy that spot for many people. Ballionaire‘s cartoonish charm reminds us that games first and foremost are fun.
Games can and should be many things; great stories to get lost in for hours, highly polished simulations, epic multiplayer battles. But Ballionaire is here for a really good time, not necessarily a long time. And that’s more than okay.
Ballionaire takes me back to the days of the arcade. A simpler time where you had an hour or to just have fun, all the lights and sounds inviting you to just play. And that’s true beyond the wave of casino rogue-likes we’re seeing. Games like The Plucky Squire and Astro Bot remind us of the simple and tactile joy that play brings. I hope that feeling of joy continues in Ballionaire‘s full release.
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