Ballionaire was provided by Raw Fury for review. Thank you!
Ballionaire seems to be an indie hit that came out of nowhere. Having launched in December 2024, I quickly started hearing about the game in various places, so I was excited to be offered the chance to review the game on the Steam Deck now. Spoilers: this game is a great one to play on the go on your Steam Deck.
Ballionaire presents itself as an "autobonker", with the aim of building the perfect Pachinko machine. You're given a new object to place on each drop, where you must create the best combos and synergies to accumulate the most money possible in as few drops as you can.
The objects you can place on the pachinko board vary wildly. From simple bouncy objects that grant you money for each "bonk", to "carryables" that your ball can pick up, and then deposit at another object on the board for a reward. There are even objects that spawn more balls when you hit them or objects that "age" and offer a reward if they reach a certain age before being bonked by your ball.
All of these mechanics create a complex and strategic experience. You have to think about what objects will work well together (called synergies in the game). For example, placing a campfire that can spawn fireballs next to a candle, which doubles the value of surrounding objects when lit, is a surefire way to get some extra money. Placing a caterpillar which, if left unbonked for five drops, turns into a butterfly which functions as an extra ball every drop can be really useful. But you'll need to place it in a position where it won't get hit, but also still be useful when it turns into a ball every drop.
The aim of the game is to accumulate as much money as possible. You have to pay tribute to the game's ELDERS, whose demands will increase exponentially on your run, meaning you will start small but need some killer combos to satisfy their demands as the run progresses. Each time you satisfy an ELDERS' demands, you can activate a "boon" that will change the game rules, such as modifying gravity or giving you a cash injection after every drop.
There are over 125 objects and 50 boons that you'll be able to use in the game, including some that are locked at first but can be unlocked by a, you guessed it, gacha machine. Fortunately, all the unlocks are done with in-game currency, so no micro-transactions or real-world money are involved here.
You'll also have five boards to play on, ranging from a simple Pyramid structure to more diverse layouts such as a rotating wheel or a slot machine. Each one requires a different strategy due to the layout of the pins and where you can place objects.
This helps the replayability of Ballionaire, because while the game can be finished in just a few hours, you could have a lot of fun finding new strategies and ways to maximize your income. Sadly, the game seems to lack any sort of online leaderboards, which seems to be a missed opportunity and could have been a fairly easy addition.
On several occasions, the controls were a little temperamental, with the d-pad or analog stick not selecting the pin I wanted to place an object on. Fortunately, the right analog stick allows fine cursor control, and you can select it that way.
Visually, the game is fairly pleasant, with a vibrant and sometimes psychedelic art style. It's an interesting one, but not bad by any means. The sounds are good for that serotonin release, having plenty of "bonk" sound effects as your balls hit various objects. It' i's complete with pretty forgettable and fairly non-descript background music, for better or worse.
Ballionaire is a solid title. If you are a fan of pachinko and watching virtual numbers flash up on your screen, indicating you're earning big bucks, then Ballionaire should be on your radar. The game only has 5 boards, but it has various difficulty levels and mod support, and for the MSRP price tag of $12.34, you should easily get a few hours of enjoyment out of this one.
Ballionaire is close to a flawless experience on the Steam Deck. The only issue I noticed with the game is that it doesn't support 1280x800 as a resolution, meaning you will get some black bars along the top and bottom of the screen.
The controls are perfect, allowing you to play the game with the gamepad. Ballionaire doesn't have graphical settings, as the game simply doesn't need any.
On my Steam Deck OLED, I could run the game at 90 FPS and get a power draw of around 7-8W, or you can lower that to 60 FPS to drop that another 1W or so. Steam Deck OLED users can easily get 7 hours of playtime from Ballionaire. Steam Deck LCD owners should expect around 4-5 hours. As the game doesn't benefit from 90 FPS, I played at 60 FPS and ran with a TDP Limit of 5W, which seemed to hold a solid 60 the entire time.
Ballionaire has no accessibility options, although it could be argued that it doesn't need any. Every object is clearly defined regardless of color, the text is quite easy to read even on the Steam Deck's display, and the controls are simple and always displayed on-screen.
Ballionaire is a fun take on the standard Pachinko format. With a variety of objects you can place on your board, it opens up an endless variety of strategies you can employ. Couple that with the randomness of being unable to choose which objects you can place, which means that Ballionaire can keep you entertained for far longer than you might initially assume. The only thing lacking, which I'm surprised by, is the fact that the game has no leaderboard support.
That, coupled with the fact that the game plays incredibly well on the Steam Deck, offering long battery life and a smooth and pain-free experience, means that Ballionarie earns our "Best on Deck" badge for being a game that you should check out on your Steam Deck.
Our review is based on the PC version of this game.
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Ballionaire is a serotonin-booster. Strategic gameplay mixed with big numbers flashing up on screen that will keep you coming back for more. The experience on Steam Deck is near flawless.
