Balatro

LocalThunk, a solo developer, combined poker with roguelike deck-building and created the most addictive game of 2024. Balatro sold 1 million copies in its first month, won multiple Game of the Year awards, and was nominated for GOTY at The Game Awards alongside AAA titles with 500x its budget. The core loop — play poker hands, modify your deck with Joker cards that create absurd multiplier chains — is so compelling that players report losing entire weekends to "just one more run." It costs $15 and runs on a phone. The developer remained anonymous for months after launch.