Hey, it's Empire's Book of the Day. I'm Andrew Limbaugh. I tend to only break out the

Monopoly set when family comes over. There's something about a game that gives us all

something to do together without, you know, talking about stuff that gets us into fights.

And I was thinking ahead to Thanksgiving while listening to today's interview.

It's with Yvette Montoya about her game slash book, mystical Lotaria. If you don't know,

Loteria is essentially Latino bingo, but Montoya added a kind of witchy twist to it.

She spoke with NPR's A. Martinez about it a few weeks ago, before Day of the Dead. And she talked about

how reimagining this game was a way of connecting with her ancestors, which is really just

another word for family. That's ahead. In the U.S., national security news can feel far away

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In many Latino households, Day of the Dead or Dia de los Mueros is marked with an altar.

Foods like pan de muerto, bread of the dead, flowers, and the images of those who are no longer with us.

As that day approaches tomorrow, we couldn't think of a better pairing for the tradition than

a good old game of Loteria, a.k.a.

I talked through it with Yvette Montoya.

She's the author of Mystical Loteria, a spiritual celebration of a classic Latin party game.

Loteria has been around for generations, Zabet but tell us why you wanted to reimagine it.

...