If Balatro had a hard time convincing rating boards it’s not gambling, then this slot machine roguelite is gonna have twice as much trouble

You think Balatro had trouble convincing rating boards and YouTube it’s not gambling? I predict CloverPit, a self-described “rogue-lite slot machine nightmare,” is going to have to work twice as hard.

CloverPit combines a demonic slot machine with Balatro-like upgrades and progress, crams it into a grubby prison cell, and makes you spin the reels. Pump in coins, play the slot, buy weird upgrades, repeat. Oh, and the money you’re playing with isn’t really yours, it belongs to a forbidding ATM in the corner, so pay off your debt between rounds. If you don’t, you die.

Even the small taste of the free CloverPit demo is really appealing if you like slots, magic, and gritty graphics. You start with just a handful of change and have to repay a debt of 75 coins in three rounds (similar to facing a Balatro boss every third round). Deposit your coins, spin the reels, and hope lady luck grants you some matching lemons, cherries, and bells: seems like a slot machine so far. But at the end of the round you can spend tickets and coins you’ve won on upgrades, which lets you start breaking things.

With my first round of winnings I picked out a weird squid with a bloodshot eye who would leap into the frame on the last spin of a round and grant me good luck—the first time I used it, the reels turned up nearly all cherries, so that horrid little good luck charm was a good buy.

I also bought a bible to protect me against a “666” coming up on the reels (I’m pretty sure my prison cell is in hell), a “stonks” talisman that let me earn more interest from my winnings, and some shrooms which gave me a nice multiplier if more than 3 patterns appeared on the reels.

There are also abilities you can buy, some that trigger randomly, others that fire off when you hammer the big red button on the slot machine. The idea is to find items and powers that synergize nicely together to turn your dozens of coins into hundreds or thousands.

I love the gritty, grubby looks of the game and how everything is situated around you in the claustrophobic little prison cell: if you want to buy an upgrade, you have to physically turn around and click on the vending machine it’s stored in, and whatever you buy will be plopped on the table next to the slot machine.

At the end of the round it feels like the camera is physically jerking your head around the cell (in a good way) to show you what’s happening: your coins pouring out of the slots, your interest being dispensed from the ATM, your tickets being printed, and the grate under your feet rattling.

Yeah, did I mention the grate under your feet? It’s what’s going to open at the end of every third round if you haven’t paid back your ever-increasing debt to that looming ATM. Then you’ll fall. You’ll fall into darkness.

I like this slot machine game. But is it gambling? I’ll let the CloverPit Steam page answer that:

“Hell no! CloverPit is a rogue-lite horror game, and not a slot machine simulator,” says developer Panik Arcade. “Our slot machine is designed to be broken and ultimately overcome, and will never ask you for real money!”

Will PEGI and YouTube buy that argument? I wouldn’t bet on it. You can find the CloverPit demo here. Full release comes later this year.