‘Yo Sabo,’ the card game that challenges your Spanish and childhood memories

From remembering tricky Spanish words to sharing funny childhood memories, the Yo Sabo game can reconnect Latino families and friends to their childhood.

As soon as you hear “¿Como se dice?” any individual who grew up in a Latino household will have flashbacks to either translating for their parents or really trying to translate a word for themselves.

But don’t worry, the game can still be entertaining while laughing and healing trauma from your childhood, and you can win the game by answering Latino trivia or by winning the challenges on the Chancla cards. Some people even make it a drinking game. And it’s also been featured in many podcasts, like LA PLATICA and Speak Spanglish to Me.

Yo Sabo The Game was born when the founder, Carlos Torres, a first-generation Mexican American who grew up in Los Angeles, wanted to improve his Spanish after always being known as a “No Sabo” kid. Torres and his co-founder and partner of 13 years, Jessica Rosales, originally created the game to help people learn and remember those tricky Spanish words, but it soon evolved into a game that connected people to their Latino roots.

“We know that everyone has a different upbringing, so we want to make it clear that Yo Sabo The Game is made to embrace all the different experiences we had growing up,” said Torres. “We want everyone to be able to come together and speak about their experiences by using Yo Sabo The Game to connect with friends so that we can show that we are all in this together, unidos.”

The cards in Yo Sabo are separated into four categories, “¡Prueba time!” “Chancla,” “¿Cómo se dice?” and “¿Cómo se dice?” with penalty words. For example, with “¡Prueba time!” one of the cards reads: “If you said, ‘I am bored’ when you were younger, what is the most likely response from your parents?” Answer: “Pues ponte a limpiar.”

Torres and Rosales said that they came up with the Yo Sabo name because they wanted to twist and get rid of the negative connotation that they saw with No Sabo individuals. They wanted to make it fun and playful and, at the same time, lean into the idea that making mistakes is OK, especially when translating. For Torres, it’s important that people actually try to practice Spanish, even if they aren't proficient or at an expert level in the language.

For Torres and Rosales, it's crucial that people stop using ‘No Sabo” words in a negative way or stop judging someone based solely on their Spanish. “Just like you can't judge how someone is or how much of a person is Latino,” said Carlos. “All of us grew up in different ways. So, we really can't judge people for their lack of Spanish and judge them and claim that they are not Latino enough because sometimes you just don't have that opportunity.”

According to an article by the Pew Research Center, most U.S. Latinos speak Spanish: 75% say they are able to carry on a conversation in Spanish pretty well or very well. And most Latinos (85%) say it is at least somewhat important for future generations of Latinos in the United States to speak Spanish.

For this first version of the Yo Sabo game, they wanted to not make it difficult, as they wanted individuals from other cultures and ethnicities to play the game, too. “Not too long ago, we got an email about a couple sharing their experience with our game. The girl was Mexican, and the boyfriend was Middle Eastern,” Carlos said. “And so she was using the game to share her culture with him and try to not only develop his Spanish a little better but also share how things were done in her household when she was growing up, and then using that game to sort of connect with different cultures was what she was telling us was very beneficial.”

With the creation of Yo Sabo, the creators are small Latino business owners who are also leading the way for other Latino entrepreneurs. “I feel like a lot of people have really great business ideas in terms of the Latino space. But I feel that if you have an idea, people should just go for it,” Jessica said.

And Torres takes pride in being a small business owner, following in his mother's footsteps. “Me and Jess support our family some way or another, whether it's paying some of their housing stuff or, you know, taking them out to get groceries, medical bills and stuff like that. And so for us, we're like, OK, this is definitely helping us kind of sustain that, and it makes us feel like we are helping our families,” he said. But in order for them to help their families, they both work nine to five jobs and go home and still work five to nine jobs as small business owners.

Their family members pack Yo Sabo cards together. Both of the founders are really close to their families, so when they package, it’s truly a team effort. From Rosales’ grandmother helping with packaging to her brother helping with graphic designs.

“Being that first generation, you sort of have that idea in your head, like, okay, I got to keep going, you know, I need to do something to really make an impact because if I slack off, it's going to slack off everybody,” said Torres

To purchase Yo Sabo The Game, click here.