We were lucky to catch up with Alexander Yanis recently and have shared our conversation below.

Alexander, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Who is your hero and why? What lessons have you learned from them and how have they influenced your journey?

There are those you look up to whom you have only heard of. These people are so beyond intangibility that your relationship with them can only ever be fantastical and idealistic even if they are real. This can sometimes cloud your vision of their flaws, their nigh-impossible standards, and the mythos that surrounds them.

And then there are those you know and look up to. Those whose flaws can’t be hidden because you have witnessed and have even been a part of some of their shortcomings. But somehow, in spite of that, these heroes have enchanted those around them. They leave behind a legacy for those those who knew them – a legacy of inspiration and hope that you would otherwise not know.

After having experienced such an example of observable heroism I have come to revisit the saying “never meet your heroes” time and time again, and have come to the following conclusion… I couldn’t disagree more. Because I’m proud to know my hero and father Anthony Yanis.

A Puerto Rican man who grew up in what were considered the slums of New York City in the lower east side. A man who never knew peace. Whenever you speak to my pops or those who knew him before my time, unbelievable legendary stories are confirmed and told with precision of how he and his five siblings survived a poverty unknown to most. If you speak to anyone who knew my dad, you’d hear a tragedy of an abusive mother and father – a trait my father refused to adopt and would somehow find it within himself to exude nothing but the opposite – love.

From fighting off street gangs, enduring abusive parents, and struggling to survive as a poor family in NYC, my father and his siblings found creativity as an outlet to not let their circumstances define them. He was a good enough singer to have been on Broadway and was even offered to be, but chose to have and focus on a family instead. Handsome enough that others referred to him as the Puerto Rican John Travolta. An extraordinary, expressive orator who would use this talent to be an associate minister and youth pastor. His creativity is uncanny which would be illustrated through both his ability to write, draw, and narrate role-playing games.

In spite of this, he had worked 3 jobs to make ends meet most of his life until he graduated, is now a licensed therapist who helps run the veterans court in Tennessee to help veterans get the care they deserve, and has become respected by all who know him, because he still maintains a childlike wonder and still maintains his creative talents.

Because of this, everyone always haunts him with the question: why don’t you make your own game instead of just narrating one?
This oftentimes resulted in laughter, but there was always a twinkle in his eye when asked. That laugh was put to rest when it was revealed that my beautiful, wonderful, and creative loving hero was told he has cancer. The cancer is temporarily at bay and we continue to cheer him on as he continues to be more heroic with every passing day.

He could have become dour, but instead, he asked me something that would light our faces up as if we were both children again – he asked if we could make and publish a game together. Something to be remembered by. A heroic legacy utilizing his creative gifts in a father-son role-playing game. Appropriately, we are calling the game Mighty Heroes of Olde and will have a Kickstarter in September to prep for publication. It is a game where you play as heroes whose celestial parents grant invaluable gifts to their children who become heroes to fight in their stead. A game about legacy and never forgetting what those who came before you have done for you.

A game about and from my father. A mighty hero of olde.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

My name is Alexander Marc Yanis, proud Hispanic owner of MoMoDi. I created this company after a friend of mine pestered me on and on again that I should make a game instead of just playing one. Ideas, concepts, and entire game systems populate my head daily, and I only ever resorted to playing already-made games with my friends and family, but always add my own twist to liven the game up for whatever table I was at.
With great sadness, my friend who pestered me passed away, and I would remember one of the last things he said “You’re going to make a game one day, and I’m gonna be honored to have you on my podcast when you do.”

Well, I did just that and made over 3.4 times the expected Kickstarter goal for the game I released last year in his honor. And over double our release goal.

I may never have gotten to be on his podcast here in this life, but I can’t wait to sit at a table with him and have one in the next.

If I had to sum up what drives this company is the thing that my friend loved to do…use games as an excuse to spread love and fun at the table.
That’s actually what the name MoMoDi stands for – to spread the exciting and fun feeling you get when you spread love at the table and simply roll More (Mo) and More (Mo) Dice (Dice). This doesn’t mean all of our games will be dice games, we just want to capture that feeling. In a day and age where it’s so simple to find an excuse not to spend time with others, we want to give people an excuse to gather around a table and spread love and fun. Just like Ronnie would have wanted.

Being originally from New York City before moving to the Middle Tennessee area to work in healthcare (with an emphasis on mental health and those who have intellectual disabilities), I have taken the exquisite opportunity of learning from people all over the world of every race, religion, creed, gender, and ability, and have learned that above all else – love is an transcendent form of communication . And that has granted me a perspective that allows people from all walks of life to enjoy the games MoMoDi releases.

At the foreground of my mind is always the thought – “Is this game going to be a great excuse for others to gather around a table and spread love and fun?” And because of that thought, MoMoDi is never going to release anything with a quality standard that I wouldn’t be proud of with love and fun as the standard.

Currently, the type of games MoMoDi has under its belt are tabletop in nature, but I will never put limitation on the potential of the company in future endeavors to expand beyond this genre/medium of gaming. The important thing for us is to spread love and fun any way we can!

MoMoDi was a success last year with the official release of eXistential eSential, and I plan on releasing another game with my pops, Anthony Yanis! A father-son project where players take the role of demigods who try to spread love, goodness, and justice throughout the world as their celestial parents grant divine and magical gifts to fight back against the enigmatic and ominous Entity! Shameless plug – the Kickstarter launches September 27th.
If that already sounds like fun to you, it’s 100 times more fun than you’re thinking and will be a blast for up to 8 players!

I am proud of what MoMoDi has accomplished thus far, and I’m excited to see what’s in store for its future!

As I always tell everyone on social media. You stay blessed. You stay beautiful!!!

Have you ever had to pivot?

Originally, after the success of the first game MoMoDi released in 2024 (eXistential eSsential), a new board game was in the works! Whereas the first game had all art, writing, system design, formatting, and editing done by yours truly, MoMoDi had earned enough profit from the first game to hire an outside artist for the new game! The artist did a stellar job, and finished everything timely – I couldn’t sing of her greatness enough! BUT…

…my dad tells me out of nowhere that he is proud of me and the first game MoMoDi released, and wants to make a game with me.
I told the artist for that other game to keep their money and that we will come back to that game, but I couldn’t miss out on the opportunity to make a game with my dad in a father-son project! Especially with my father having challenges with his cancer – every moment I have with him means the world to me, and this new game we are making together – he’s writing it, and I’m editing it. He’s sketching it, and I’m coloring it. We are knocking this new game, Mighty Heroes of Olde, out of the park as a crazy, fun-loving duo, and we are very proud to say that it’s going to be Kickstarter ready by September of this year!

Can you share a story from your journey that illustrates your resilience?

After the passing of my friend who encouraged and inspired me to pursue game development, I had to teach a lot of nuance things to myself. I can honestly say that my day career has very little cohesion with my creative company MoMoDi, but I have taken lessons that are invaluable in any career. One of these lessons I have learned is resilience!

As an example, I had actually sat on a completed version of my first game, eXistential eSsential, for over a year. The only thing holding me back was my amateur ignorance as to the printing process. For over a year I could have had the game released already, but after reading and watching many online sources to assist, and having great friends and play-testers like Christian Leet, Robert Nelson, and family like Dominic Aradio who got me in contact with an awesome printer pro named Michael Scarano who helped me resolve my conundrum.

Admittedly, it was a challenge for me to even continue up until I was fortunate enough to meet Michael Scarano. It was frustrating to literally have a finished product with only one more thing needed that just wouldn’t get done! But ultimately, all those years of hardships in my life – be it the challenges of everyday work in my day career, growing up tough on the streets of NYC, struggling with chronic insomnia since I was a teen, the news of my dad getting cancer, and so much more, I had found motivation.

Motivation from the last words of my friend who passed. Motivation from friends and family who incessantly supported me. Motivation from the knowledge that I’ve already overcome so much and the only one rooting against me was my own mind.
And finally, the beacon of my motivation and hope has been my belief that I will do everything that is positive as if I were doing it for God who got me through all my difficult times and has never failed me yet… I found that I had it in me to keep pressing forward.

And because of that, MoMoDi has not only one game spreading love and fun in the world, but now, MoMoDi has a second game in the works. And I get to make it with my pops.

Never. Give. Up.

No matter what you go through – you stay blessed. You stay beautiful.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://MoMoDi.biz
• Instagram: @momodigames
• Facebook: MoMoDi
• Twitter: @momodigames
• Other: TikTok @

Image Credits

Alexander Marc Yanis, Anthony Yanis, Julia Carol Rogers, Michelle Yanis, Rebecca Yanis, Christian Leet, Connor Leet, MoMoDi, eXistential eSential, Chattanooga Comic Con.