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Before video games, Nintendo made playing cards. Fusajiro Yamauchi began producing and selling hanafuda cards in Kyoto in 1889; over the following decades, the business expanded into western-style and plastic cards, toys, and electronic amusement. Nintendo dates its first home video game machines, TV Game 15 and TV Game 6, to 1977.
Nintendo began as a playing-card business
Nintendo’s origins trace to September 1889, when Fusajiro Yamauchi began making and selling hanafuda—Japanese playing cards—in Kyoto. The company’s founding date and its later incorporation are distinct milestones: Nintendo’s profile lists November 1947 as the incorporation of the company that followed the earlier card business. Nintendo’s company profile records both dates.
How Nintendo changed its card business
1902: Western-style cards
Nintendo says it began manufacturing and selling western-style playing cards in Japan in 1902, adding another kind of card to its original business. Its corporate history and regional history document the milestone.
1947–1953: A formal company and new materials
Marufuku Co., Ltd., described by Nintendo as the predecessor of Nintendo Co., Ltd., was established in Kyoto in 1947. The business adopted the name Nintendo Playing Card Co., Ltd. in 1951. In 1953, Nintendo says it became the first company in Japan to succeed in mass-producing plastic playing cards. These steps mark a shift in corporate identity and production, not a departure from cards.
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1959: Disney character cards
Nintendo began selling playing cards featuring Disney characters in 1959. Its South Africa history says the move opened a children’s-card market and helped fuel a boom in the card department. That was a change in audience and product presentation within the card business, rather than a switch to video games.
From cards to toys and broader entertainment
1963: The company name broadens
In 1963, Nintendo changed its name from Nintendo Playing Card Co., Ltd. to Nintendo Co., Ltd. Its official history says the company began manufacturing games in addition to playing cards that year. The new name reflected a wider scope of products.
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1966: The Ultra Hand
Nintendo’s corporate chronology does not include the Ultra Hand, but a 2015 TIME account reports that president Hiroshi Yamauchi approved the extensible-arm toy in 1966. It presents the toy as an early marker of Nintendo’s move into playthings beyond cards. No sales total is established by the sources cited here.
1970–1973: Electronic amusement
Nintendo’s South Africa timeline dates its Beam Gun series to 1970 and describes the products as using opto-electronics. In 1973, Nintendo’s corporate history records the development of the Laser Clay Shooting System for leisure facilities. These were forms of electronic or technology-assisted entertainment before Nintendo’s first home video game machines; they should not be confused with those machines.
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Nintendo dates the launch of TV Game 15 and TV Game 6, its first home video game machines, to 1977. That is a useful marker for the company’s move into home video games, but not the beginning of its involvement in entertainment technology: the Beam Gun series and Laser Clay Shooting System came earlier. The chronology is documented in Nintendo’s corporate history and its South Africa history.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.How different was Nintendo before video games?
| Era | What Nintendo made | What changed |
|---|---|---|
| 1889 onward | Hanafuda and, from 1902, western-style playing cards | A Kyoto card-making and selling business expanded its card range. |
| 1950s | Plastic playing cards and Disney character cards | Production materials and the intended audience broadened. |
| 1960s | Playing cards, games, and toys such as the Ultra Hand | The company moved beyond cards into other forms of play. |
| 1970–1973 | Beam Gun products and the Laser Clay Shooting System | Nintendo explored electronic amusement and leisure entertainment. |
| 1977 | TV Game 15 and TV Game 6 | Nintendo launched its first home video game machines. |
The main difference is the kind of product, not a clean break between unrelated companies. Nintendo began with physical card games, then expanded its games and entertainment business over time. The milestones establish that expansion; they do not, by themselves, show when later products replaced earlier ones or provide comparable sales figures.
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