Bootstraps

How Bootstraps scales

Bootstraps gives +2 Mult per $5 you currently have. The mult is checked every scored hand and reflects your current cash. If your money goes up between hands, Bootstraps' contribution goes up too.

The relationship is linear:

Hoarding cash directly buys mult. Bootstraps turns the economy game into the scoring game.

What goes well with Bootstraps

Anything that lets you accumulate cash:

• Golden Joker (+$4 at end of round): pure income, feeds Bootstraps directly.
• Business Card / Steel Joker / Egg / Delayed Gratification: round-end or condition-triggered income.
• Gold-seal cards (+$3 per card held at round end): held cash income.
• Interest scaling: Balatro pays $1 per $5 you have at round end up to $25 cap. Hoarding to the $25/$50/$75 interest cap is implicit Bootstraps fuel.
• Cloud 9 (+$1 per 9 in deck per round): wide income with 9-heavy decks.

Don't spend on Bootstraps's slot

Bootstraps wants you to NOT spend. Common mistakes:

• Aggressive shop spending: every $4-$10 you spend on a shop joker is -1.6 to -4 Bootstraps mult permanently (until you re-earn).
• Rerolling shop: rerolls cost $0-$5 escalating. With Bootstraps active, every reroll is a quantifiable mult cost.
• Buying packs you don't need: same loss principle.

Build with Bootstraps means stocking essential pieces early, then sitting on cash. Skipping later shops becomes correct because money saved > marginal joker upgrade.

Bootstraps + Egg

Egg gains $3 in sell value per round. After 20 rounds, Egg sells for $60 — that's +$60 → +24 mult on Bootstraps when you finally sell. Egg is essentially a delayed cash payout perfect for Bootstraps.

A common late-run play: keep Egg through the run, sell it the round before the final boss for a huge cash injection, score with Bootstraps boosted.

Bootstraps vs other +Mult sources

Bootstraps's +Mult is flat (additive), not multiplicative. Two jokers giving +20 each beats one giving +40 only if other +Mult sources are scarce.

For X-mult builds (Triboulet, Glass Joker, Yorick), Bootstraps is supplementary. For pure chip-mult balanced builds (Plasma Deck), Bootstraps's flat mult floor is valuable.

When to take, when to skip

Take Bootstraps:

• Plasma Deck builds where balanced chip/mult matters.
• Income-heavy archetype (Golden Joker, Egg, Cloud 9 already in play).
• Early-mid run when you can still build cash.

Skip Bootstraps:

• X-mult-focused build where the flat +Mult is irrelevant.
• Late ante when cash is low and you can't build it back up.
• Heavy spending plan (rerolling, Pack farming).

Related Jokers

Same rarity or category as Bootstraps.