Games Like Ultrapool: 6 Roguelike Deckbuilders to Play Next

Start with the two it names

Ultrapool’s own Steam description does the comparison work for you: it “plays like a pool version of Balatro and Super Auto Pets”. That is not marketing shorthand, it is an accurate description of the two halves of the design.

Balatro is where the scoring structure comes from — a round target, a score built from multiplied components, and a shop between rounds that sells you the pieces of an engine. If you recognised Ultrapool’s “clear the target, surplus becomes money” loop immediately, this is why. The press picked up on the same lineage: GamingOnLinux’s piece on the game was headlined around it bringing the world of Balatro roguelikes to cue sports.

Super Auto Pets is where the board comes from — a row of units, each with a triggered ability, that resolve in order without you controlling them moment to moment. Ultrapool’s balls behave the same way once the cue ball is struck: you set the board up, then watch the triggers fire.

The three its publisher bundled it with

At launch, offbrand games put Ultrapool into three “Complete the Set” bundles, each pairing it with another game from the same family. These are the most direct recommendations available, because a publisher choosing bundle partners is choosing games it expects the same players to want.

• Slots and Daggers — bundled as “Shots & Slots”. A slot machine reimagined as a run-based deckbuilder; the same instinct as Ultrapool’s, applied to reels instead of a table.
• Dice A Million — bundled as “Balls a Million”. Dice as the randomiser, with the same compounding-multiplier maths underneath.
• Die in the Dungeon — bundled as “Balls in the Dungeon”. Dice-based dungeon crawling with a build that grows across a run.

Two more in the same shape

Peglin is the closest cousin nobody named: a peg-drop physics game where your projectiles are your deck. It shares Ultrapool’s central tension — you can plan the build but not the bounce — and if the appeal of Ultrapool is that a perfect board still has to survive physics, Peglin is the same bargain.

Monster Train and other lane-based deckbuilders scratch the ordering itch specifically. If the part of Ultrapool you enjoy most is the cocktail bar and its left-to-right effect resolution, games built around sequencing rather than aiming will land.

What none of them have

Ultrapool’s actual novelty is the cue. In every game above, randomness is dealt to you — a card, a die, a peg bounce you did not choose. In Ultrapool you aim, and a degree of cue angle decides whether the round clears. That is why the same board plays differently every round, and why the high score guide spends as much time on ricochets as on ball effects.

It is also why the free mobile version is worth trying before the Steam one if you are on the fence: aiming with a thumb and aiming with a mouse are genuinely different games. The platform comparison is here.