An in-depth look at Nintendo: The Past

The Paranoid Gamer writes: "Founded in 1889 by Fusajiro Yamauchi, Nintendo started out not as a game development company, but rather as a card company. The company, named Nintendo Koppai, produced and marketed a playing card game called Hanafuda which shortly became popular. As demand grew for his playing card game, Yamauchi had to hire assistants to help mass produce these cards to keep up with demand. And although much of Nintendo’s focus is now on video games, they still continue to manufacture these Hanafuda cards till today and they even organize their own tournament called the “Nintendo Cup”."