This Ain’t Even Poker, Ya Joker Review

This Ain’t Even Poker, Ya Joker is an incremental idle clicker title that simultaneously functions as a roguelite and deck-building game all at once. If all of that sounds like it is a bit beyond you, don’t worry, it plays much more simply than it sounds.

Publisher: Oro Interactive, Drillhounds

Developer: Mash

Platform: Played on PC (Steam)

Availability: Released December 11, 2025 on PC (Steam).

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The premise is simple, both mechanically and “narratively”. You, the player, are trapped in some casino-esque domain by a joker and tasked with earning one billion dollars. To start, you only have a single card in hand, and you earn a small amount of money when you flip it over, which is based on the type of hand you draw. These hands are your standard poker hands, high card, pair, straight, and so on. If you know poker, you’ll know what to look for and build towards, but it’s not a death sentence if you don’t; the game literally plays itself. Once you earn some cash, you can then spend it in an upgrade tree that allows you to increase your handsize, payouts, card auto-flip rate, and more. 

While this is billed as an idle game, the first run is quite hands on. You’ll need to manage your upgrades deliberately in order to make earning that first billion an easy affair. Realistically, you could upgrade a little and then set and forget it while you accumulate cash, but part of the appeal is seeing all of the crazy flashes of light and coins jingling across the screen — which requires high levels of upgrades and forward progression in the story.

The easiest way to do this is to play until you hit a wall in a run, where the cash you are earning is outpaced by the scaling of the upgrade requirements. At that point, you just end the run, buy your permanent upgrades, and go again. You’ll also be awarded with higher payouts as a bonus. There are no fail states in a run, either — you play as long and as leisurely as you deem worthy of your time.

It is deeply satisfying to see all of the effects go off during play.

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And, boy, was I surprised at just how satisfying all of that is. I’ve never really bothered with an idle clicker game before, and if you had described this game to me. I probably wouldn’t have jumped in headfirst. However, it is immensely satisfying to see those numbers skyrocket and all of the visual effects pop off in tandem. Every time I thought I was going to be done I stuck around for ‘just one more hand.’ A gambler’s mindset if I’ve ever heard it. And it does satisfy a compulsive urge in that sense — rewarding engagement and interaction with quick and affirmative feedback. 

This Ain’t Even Poker, Ya Joker never veers into complicated territory, even as all of the bits and bobs are unlocked. There are systems like merging cards, card removal, incremental upgrades and so on that make manual engagement interesting, but in terms of deck-building it doesn't get much more simple than thinning out a 52 card poker deck to generate good hands. On top of this, full achievement completion (and by extension story completion) can be attained within a few short hours, but it is fun to work toward setting up a fully completed board where all of your decks are pumping out the maximum earnings on every flip, just so you can watch those numbers soar.

I think that simplicity is part of the appeal, though — at least from an Idler perspective. Unfortunately, beyond the satisfaction of flashing lights and ever increasing numbers, This Ain’t Even Poker, Ya Joker doesn’t have much going for it. The story is maybe 10-15 lines of dialogue in total, the music is an abhorrent remix of “Entry of the Gladiators”, and once you’ve played beyond a few hours, there’s nothing more to see or do that you haven’t already done. 

Despite those elements being underserved, I don’t feel like they are strictly necessary. At the very least, I don’t get the sense that anyone has ever picked up an idle clicker for the plot. Instead, what you get is exactly as advertised: a hyper flashy and ultimately satisfying deckbuilder idle game. If you’re in the market for something like that, This Ain’t Even Poker, Ya Joker is a worthy detour.

Verdict

Ain’t Even Poker, Ya Joker is flashy, fun, and addictive. While it is ultimately an extremely simple and short game, it is at the very least a nice way to spend a few hours if you just want to tickle the parts of your brain that like seeing numbers climb.

Image Credits: Mash, Oro Interactive, and Drillhounds

Disclosure: We received a free review copy of this product from the publisher.