I may have asked you this already but where were you when you first heard about Millennial Loteria? Pero like ... where?! The day the brand dropped online, my social circle was sent into a frenzy. I could literally hear the *yas* screams through my phone. You see, to me, Loteria is more than just a bingo game I played with pinto beans at my abuelita's house. No no, to me, it's permanence. Believe it or not, I have one of the cards written on me, tatted on my left rib. It is something that I will always hold onto. These symbols are largely the poster children of Latinx culture in the United States, often mass produced and sold everywhere from the local flea markets to boutique stores. I've seen prints of them sell for .50 to $150. They've become relics and until this year, Loteria hadn't had a facelift. Meet Mike Alvaro. He created our generation's version of Loteria. Pretty sick, right? And they are so relatable! I'm so honored to be interviewing this visionary. He has been featured on Vivala, Pop Sugar, Latina, Telemundo, Remezcla, Hello Giggles, Huffington Post, Megalopolis MX, and now here. Read on to learn how he rejects dated Hispanic stereotypes with a modern twist.
Millennial Loteria by Mike Alfaro is a hilarious and insightful parody of the classic Mexican Bingo game called Loteria, but this time, it's like way more millennial. This series was created to combat outdated Hispanic stereotypes and bring a more modern and relevant representation of Hispanic-American and their daily life. Our Artist Series Millennial Loteria features 35 pieces of handmade awesomeness. To honor the game, all tiles are card size (approximately 3″x4″). This collection is part of our relief tiles. And, each piece meticulously painted by hand. You can pick and choose your favorites or get the whole set! Representation Matters.
Can you tell us a little bit about your personal upbringing and where you are from? I was born and raised in Guatemala City, Guatemala until I was about 17. I came to the US for college.
What is your artistic background? I think I read somewhere that you are a writer and creative director. What got you to these roles? I studied PR, Advertising, and Television Production at Chapman University. After graduating in 2010, I worked at different ad agencies, focusing on millennial and Hispanic consumers. I've written a lot of different TV and digital campaigns for clients like Jack in the Box, Honda, the LA Rams, and Taco Bell, where I was part of the team that helped market the Doritos Locos Tacos.
I have a 'La Luna' tattoo that I share with my sister. When I saw 'the face swap' label, I laughed so hard. If you could, who would you face swap with? I'd face swap with Batman. Batman is always the right answer for anything.
What made you interested in creating a Loteria card deck/design for a 'new generation?'The old one just felt so dated, I wanted to give it the 'reboot' treatment. Make it something that felt relevant to our generation again. Nostalgia is a powerful emotion, but when it's also funny, it becomes something shareable.
How do you decide which symbols to feature? I pick a random card and just create different modern scenarios for it to be in. Sometimes it's easy and sometimes it takes a day or two of thinking. It's hard when you've got two good ideas for one specific card, but that's a good problem to have. I just see what makes me laugh more, and go with that.
How do you think the older generation of Loteria players will relate to this? It seems almost educational...in the same way that Loteria was to us as children. I can already hear myself telling my parents, 'This is Tinder!' 'This is Uber.' 'This is how heavy my student debt feels!' Haha, I didn't think of it that way but you're right. There's a reverse angle to it now that's pretty cool. I've gotten some bad comments from older people who say the original Loteria shouldn't be messed with, but I think that's to be expected of older people who already are critical of millennials. I'm not replacing the original Loteria, I'm just making a more relevant version for my generation. It's a parody account that's supposed to be taken lightly, and some older people take it way too serious.
Which card do you identify the most with? El Nerd. Hence the previous Batman answer.
Describe a perfect day in LA. Watching an outdoor Selena movie screening, drinking Bulleit Rye whiskey gingers.
Where do you like to day trip for inspiration? The movies. I go to the theater once a week on a regular basis.
It seems like you are about to pop off and I wish you so much success. What is next for you? I'm pitching a TV show to a couple of streaming services. It's a comedy about a millennial Hispanic immigrant who realizes he's about to get deported. It follows him and his friends as they deal with the issue. It's called Barely Legal and hopefully, you'll get to hear more about it in the future.
Mike Alfaro thought the game could use some updating, so he decided to put a spin to the classic game that would relate more to a newer generation.
If life is a game and we're all dealt different cards, a Los Angeles man is using his cards to change the game -- literally and figuratively.
Mike Alfaro figures if you're going to change a longstanding tradition like the popular Mexican bingo game Loteria, you better have a purpose.
'To me, I always knew it would be big. I always thought people would relate to it,' Alfaro says. 'But I also never understood the amount of people who also felt like me.'
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Alfaro is the creator of Millennial Loteria, a new take on the classic game that sees the old cards updated to subjects more relevant to the present and his generation.
'I thought 'Oh, La Dama doesn't really represent a lot of what's going on in culture right now.' I thought, 'La Feminist would be more appropriate to nowadays.' I looked at La Sirena...Oh, it kind of looks like she's taking a selfie, if she had a phone in her hand,' Mike explains. 'El Catrin is 'El Hipster,' El Sol is 'El Global Warming' and it just became stuff that was more about our life.'
Alfaro started sharing the redesigned cards on Instagram, and his @MillennialLoteria account exploded. Thousands of followers started sharing the new cards, and many even asked him to make his own version of the game.
'I said I want to do like a thousand copies of the game. That was my first investment. I took all the money I had in savings and I invested it into it. It was like $20,000,' he said. 'So, I was basically cleared out. This has to work. I thought those 1000 copies would -- I thought 'Oh, I'll sell them in like four to five months maybe?' That's like what I thought it would take, and they sold out in four days.'
Millennial Loteria All Cards
Last year, he sold 15,000 copies in two weeks, selling out by Christmas. As Alfaro mentioned, he always thought the game could be successful, but even he was surprised by how fast it happened.
With Millennial Loteria, he has succeeded in doing what many in corporate America have struggled to do -- market products to Millennials. Alfaro credits the game's authenticity, which is predicated on his own experiences not only as a member of that generation, but as an immigrant as well.
'I was actually at home in Guatemala when I first thought about re-doing the game. I found my old Loteria game at my house and I was sort of flipping through the board,' says Alfaro, who moved to Orange County in his teens, struggling to mesh with his new American culture while aiming to stay true to his Latinidad. 'You walk down the game aisle, there really isn't anything for Hispanic Americans...Nobody is really treating them and talking directly to them. They are either talking to them like they would a white audience or they are treating them as if they were foreigners.
'For Millennial Loteria, it was this idea of taking these two cultures, mixing them together to create something specific for the Hispanic American experience.'
Millennial Loteria Cards
The game's popularity has allowed Alfaro to take advantage of opportunities, like joining the Latinos in Media and Arts (LIMA) Coalition, which is a collection of media industry professionals who want to make young LatinX aware of media opportunities.
'There's a lot of LatinX people that don't feel represented in the media. So, they don't think they have access to those opportunities,' he says. 'I think a big part of the lima coalition mission is that people are aware that those opportunities are there for you and showcase, 'Hey, we are Latinos, we are making it, you can do it too.'
As humorous as his cards can be, success hasn't come without some controversy. Not everyone is excited about change, especially regarding a Loteria game that traces its roots to Italy and Spain but hasn't changed much--if at all--for generations.
'I got a lot of flack sometimes about making the game in Spanglish, but there's a lot of people who are Latinos here In the United States who don't speak Spanish,' Alfaro explains. 'I think that this also lets people know that even if you don't speak Spanish, you are still Latino. It's still part of your culture and your heritage, and that's a discussion this game allows people to have.'
That discussion is why Alfaro has always wanted the game to have a bigger meaning, to set an example by changing stereotypes of the past and present.
'Oh, millennials are lazy, they are entitled,' but then you think about stereotypes of Latinos and immigrants have been facing for years, and there are many people out there saying that we are lazy, that we are entitled,' he says. 'What happens when you're both? You have to fight twice as hard to overcome those stereotypes of people have about you...In a way, Millennial Loteria breaks those and also allows us to laugh at those stereotypes, like us taking selfies or student debt.'
Millennial Loteria Amazon
Mike Alfaro figures if you're going to change a longstanding tradition like the popular Mexican bingo game Loteria, you better have a purpose.
'To me, I always knew it would be big. I always thought people would relate to it,' Alfaro says. 'But I also never understood the amount of people who also felt like me.'
News
Top news of the day
Alfaro is the creator of Millennial Loteria, a new take on the classic game that sees the old cards updated to subjects more relevant to the present and his generation.
'I thought 'Oh, La Dama doesn't really represent a lot of what's going on in culture right now.' I thought, 'La Feminist would be more appropriate to nowadays.' I looked at La Sirena...Oh, it kind of looks like she's taking a selfie, if she had a phone in her hand,' Mike explains. 'El Catrin is 'El Hipster,' El Sol is 'El Global Warming' and it just became stuff that was more about our life.'
Alfaro started sharing the redesigned cards on Instagram, and his @MillennialLoteria account exploded. Thousands of followers started sharing the new cards, and many even asked him to make his own version of the game.
'I said I want to do like a thousand copies of the game. That was my first investment. I took all the money I had in savings and I invested it into it. It was like $20,000,' he said. 'So, I was basically cleared out. This has to work. I thought those 1000 copies would -- I thought 'Oh, I'll sell them in like four to five months maybe?' That's like what I thought it would take, and they sold out in four days.'
Millennial Loteria All Cards
Last year, he sold 15,000 copies in two weeks, selling out by Christmas. As Alfaro mentioned, he always thought the game could be successful, but even he was surprised by how fast it happened.
With Millennial Loteria, he has succeeded in doing what many in corporate America have struggled to do -- market products to Millennials. Alfaro credits the game's authenticity, which is predicated on his own experiences not only as a member of that generation, but as an immigrant as well.
'I was actually at home in Guatemala when I first thought about re-doing the game. I found my old Loteria game at my house and I was sort of flipping through the board,' says Alfaro, who moved to Orange County in his teens, struggling to mesh with his new American culture while aiming to stay true to his Latinidad. 'You walk down the game aisle, there really isn't anything for Hispanic Americans...Nobody is really treating them and talking directly to them. They are either talking to them like they would a white audience or they are treating them as if they were foreigners.
'For Millennial Loteria, it was this idea of taking these two cultures, mixing them together to create something specific for the Hispanic American experience.'
Millennial Loteria Cards
The game's popularity has allowed Alfaro to take advantage of opportunities, like joining the Latinos in Media and Arts (LIMA) Coalition, which is a collection of media industry professionals who want to make young LatinX aware of media opportunities.
'There's a lot of LatinX people that don't feel represented in the media. So, they don't think they have access to those opportunities,' he says. 'I think a big part of the lima coalition mission is that people are aware that those opportunities are there for you and showcase, 'Hey, we are Latinos, we are making it, you can do it too.'
As humorous as his cards can be, success hasn't come without some controversy. Not everyone is excited about change, especially regarding a Loteria game that traces its roots to Italy and Spain but hasn't changed much--if at all--for generations.
'I got a lot of flack sometimes about making the game in Spanglish, but there's a lot of people who are Latinos here In the United States who don't speak Spanish,' Alfaro explains. 'I think that this also lets people know that even if you don't speak Spanish, you are still Latino. It's still part of your culture and your heritage, and that's a discussion this game allows people to have.'
That discussion is why Alfaro has always wanted the game to have a bigger meaning, to set an example by changing stereotypes of the past and present.
'Oh, millennials are lazy, they are entitled,' but then you think about stereotypes of Latinos and immigrants have been facing for years, and there are many people out there saying that we are lazy, that we are entitled,' he says. 'What happens when you're both? You have to fight twice as hard to overcome those stereotypes of people have about you...In a way, Millennial Loteria breaks those and also allows us to laugh at those stereotypes, like us taking selfies or student debt.'
Millennial Loteria Amazon
All Loteria Cards
Alfaro is taking the cards he was dealt to make sure there cards that we can all play with, hoping one day the game can lead to positive changes in media for LatinX.
Printable Loteria Deck Of Cards
'Where is our Loteria movie? Where is our Loteria TV show?' he wonders. 'So, to me, that would be the ultimate goal for where this can go.'
