Mismo! A new board game for homesick Pinoys

Mismo! is a highly addictive game that reflects the Filipino personality: light-hearted humor, not-too rigid structure, and community-based fun. Its democratic method of determining winners displays the Filipinos’ love for liberty – the freedom to choose and to defend that choice is a central feature of the game itself. The name Mismo! can be a play on the phrase miss mo! – consistent with the nature from which the game arose. Most Filipinos living in other countries have a weakness for anything that will simulate their life back home. The game allows the rediscovery of all things Filipino: from Paeng Nepomuceno to Ike Lozada, from tong-its to tuba. Creators of the game admittedly dub Mismo! as “the kind of project that you come up with when you so badly miss the Philippines," but it goes beyond merely keeping one afloat amidst homesickness. More than entertainment, the game enables its participants to bridge the gap between generations, educating the young and the not-so young alike with one another’s way of life. The game exposes the younger ones to their parents’ YC Bikini Briefs, and parents to their children’s Friendster. Mismo!, then, can be interpreted as both miss mo! (things you miss most about the Philippines), and na-mimiss mo! (things you have been missing out on). It is the discovery and rediscovery of all things familiar and unfamiliar, including everyone and denying none. Mismo! came out in June 2009 and retails at PhP1,975 in game stores. [Read full game review here] - GMANews.TV