Most people know Nintendo as the company behind Mario and Zelda, but they were around long before anyone jumped on a Goomba. The gaming giant actually started in the 19th century making something completely different. What everyday item launched one of gaming's biggest empires?
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The answer is: Playing Cards
A craftsman named Fusajiro Yamauchi opened his small Kyoto shop in 1889 to create hanafuda playing cards. These beautifully hand-painted cards featured flowers and plants used in traditional Japanese games, becoming especially popular in the backrooms and gambling spots of Japan.
The cards took off so quickly that Nintendo kept making them exclusively for decades. By 1953, they modernized production and became Japan's first company to mass-produce plastic playing cards. Disney came knocking in 1959, and suddenly Mickey Mouse started appearing on Nintendo cards in Japanese homes. Families bought 1.5 million packs by 1961.
Nintendo tried branching out into instant rice, office supplies, and taxi services over the years, but kept making those playing cards right through their evolution into video games. Walk into a shop in Japan today and you'll still find Nintendo-made playing cards, but now they feature Mario where Mickey Mouse used to be.
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