Indie roguelike hit Balatro is set to jeopardize world productivity later this month when it launches on mobile devices, but it turns out its upcoming launch has caused a sales spike for a completely separate game.
Luck be a Landlord, which was developed by indie dev Dan DiIorio (TrampolineTales), is a roguelike deckbuilder which sees players use an in-game slot machine "to earn rent money and defeat capitalism," adding new symbols to the machine as they go in the hopes of earning more and more coins. Its gameplay is by no means the same as Balatro's, which is inspired by the card game Big Two and lets you deploy all sorts of wacky cards with special abilities to earn a ridiculous amount of points, but the Google Play Store certainly thinks the two are similar enough for DiIorio's game to show up when you search for LocalThunk's.
"So many people have searched for Balatro on Google Play that it caused Luck be a Landlord to have a minor sales spike from people finding it in the suggested search results," DiIorio writes on Twitter, a couple of days after Balatro's mobile release date announcement.
While the two games play in different ways, LocalThunk previously revealed that Balatro's "largest influence" was Luck be a Landlord, so it's certainly appropriate that DiIorio's own roguelike would show up by its side on the Play Store. The two also appear in the 'Not A Real Casino' Steam bundle together, alongside blackjack roguelike Dungeons & Degenerate Gamblers.
Balatro is set to release on the Apple App Store and Google Play Store on September 26, so there's just over two weeks to wait before you can play it on your phone and say goodbye to all your free time – LocalThunk has already said "sorry" in advance. In the meantime, though, Luck be a Landlord might be the solid alternative you're looking for.
For more games like Balatro and Luck be a Landlord, be sure to check out our roundup of the best roguelike games.
