On September 23, 1889, Fusajiro Yamauchi founded Nintendo Koppai (koppai means “cards”) in Kyoto, Japan. Originally a playing card company, the company would go onto revolutionised video games forever.
When the company was first founded, Nintendo made hanafuda playing cards. It was only three years earlier that the Japanese government legalised the cards, which were a favourite of gamblers.
Today, hanafuda is often played during the Japanese New Year’s holidays by regular folks, young and old alike.
It is still unclear what the company’s name Nintendo (任天堂) meant to founder Fusajiro Yamauchi. The “leave luck to heaven” translation is most likely incorrect. You can read more about what Nintendo’s name could mean right here.
The top photo is a pre-World War II photo of Nintendo’s headquarters. On the far left is a photo of Napoleon, which is for the company’s Daitouryou deck. Well over a hundred years later, Nintendo still sells this Napoleon deck.
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