Did Nintendo really start as a playing card company in the 1800s?

The answer

Nintendo was founded on September 23, 1889, by Fusajiro Yamauchi in Kyoto, Japan, as a handmade hanafuda (flower card) playing card company. For nearly 70 years, it remained a card manufacturer. In the 1960s, under president Hiroshi Yamauchi (Fusajiro's great-grandson), Nintendo experimented wildly with other businesses - including a taxi company, a TV network, a food company selling instant rice, and most famously, 'love hotels' rented by the hour. None succeeded. The pivot to electronic toys began in the 1970s, and the 1981 arcade hit Donkey Kong established Nintendo in gaming. The 1985 Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) then revolutionized the industry. Today, Nintendo has a market capitalization exceeding $60 billion, making it one of history's most remarkable corporate transformations.