Editors’ Choice celebrates the very best apps and games – hand-picked by App Store Editors around the world.

Should you play the straight flush or the two pair? In an ordinary game of poker, the answer’s easy. But in Balatro, it’s different every time!

We can’t believe: How this audacious indie boldly reimagines poker as a high-score chaser. Shuffle powerful cards in and out of the deck to build poker-like hands that defy tradition, like a five-of-a-kind or a Flush House (a full house where every card is the same suit). Or use power-ups that turn simple hands – a two pair, for instance – into score-smashing plays.

Biggest surprise: Random jokers that further define the strategy – and force us to keep reinventing our approach. One might give bonus points to 10s and 4s; another multiplies the score when you play a diamond. When it all comes together – when you engineer a strategy so brilliant it deserves to be preserved in the videogame hall of fame – it’s like finding gold.

Our favourite moment: The time we paired a joker stating “all cards are considered face cards” with one that makes “all face cards add to the score multiplier,” followed by the ridiculous “all face cards retrigger when scored”. Each hand, on fire, sent us hurtling past the final ante. A run for the ages!