Fusajiro Yamauchi established Nintendo in Kyoto in 1889.
The business originally made hanafuda, traditional Japanese playing cards. Yamauchi’s first workshop operated under the name Nintendo Koppai, and the company remained focused on cards for many decades before exploring other products and entertainment businesses.
Nintendo entered electronic games in the 1970s and became a major home-console company with systems such as the Nintendo Entertainment System, Super Nintendo Entertainment System, and Nintendo Switch. A common error is assuming Nintendo began as a video-game maker; its history started more than 80 years before its first electronic games. Another nearby fact is that the name Nintendo is commonly associated with the idea of leaving luck to heaven, although the precise historical interpretation is debated.