Every year for as long as I can remember, my mother has gifted me a wall calendar featuring photos of my hometown. It’s a lovely thing, and I use it often to keep a note of all the concerts I have coming up. For 2026, though, I’m going to need something different: a Balatro wall calendar that features actor Ben Starr as the game’s mascot, Jimbo, in a variety of scenarios.
You’ll see Jimbo as Santa Claus and a vampire. There’s a photo of him in baseball garb and another of him eating ice cream. There’s even a shot of Jimbo with carefully placed bananas (a nod to the game’s handy banana cards) akin to that one shot of Mena Suvari in American Beauty. Starr is a logical pick for this as he previously dressed up as Jimbo to promote the game and accept a BAFTA on behalf of developer LocalThunk.
It’s silly, ever-so-slightly disturbing and — most importantly — all for a great cause, as Nintendo Life noted. LocalThunk and Balatro publisher PlayStack are donating all profits from sales of the calendar to Extra Life and SpecialEffect.
Extra Life is a program that benefits local children’s hospitals with the help of people who play games on charity livestreams. As for SpecialEffect, that charity helps physically disabled folks play games to the best of their abilities. You can buy the calendar now on FanGamer for $19 or €20. I’ll get over my hatred of clowns this one time.
