Black Mirror has proven itself to be disturbingly prescient. When I watched the first few seasons of Netflix’s dystopian anthology, I thought the show clutched the “what if cell phones were too much” gems a little too tightly. But since I’ve come to view my phone as a miserable obelisk radiating psychic damage, I’m now more inclined to listen when series creator Charlie Brooker says there’s an impending danger to humanity, and it’s Balatro on cell phones.

In a recent interview with Deadline, Brooker was asked about the origins and inspirations of Black Mirror’s speculative fiction in episodes like “Joan is Awful,” which led to talk of the show’s sixth season in 2023. When asked what games he’s been playing lately, Brooker – a former writer for the now-out-of-print PC Zone magazine – said he, like countless others, has succumbed to the seductive deck-building lure of Balatro.