5 ms·

Nintendo's washable playing cards from 1953

69 points by polm23 6y ago

Closi 6y ago
Very cool bit of Nintendo history, although as someone with a passion for cards, paper cards with a good finish are still the gold standard.
- Isamu 6y ago
  Seems like there isn’t a variety of finishes available like there used to be? Finding the right finish is critical in card handling and close up magic.
  - Legogris 6y ago
    I own decks with 3 different material and feel to them and I haven't really went out of my way to look for them - just been picking them up when I'm out and about and either need a deck to play, for souvenirs, or see one I like. My favorite so far is an Evangelion themed one. A bit gimmicky and may be confusing to play with but I think the art is actually nice. http://www.tabroid.net/news/2012/06/enjoy-hanafuda-with-eva-fuda-evangelion-flower-card.html http://www.tabroid.net/news/2012/06/enjoy-hanafuda-with-eva-... That being said, I haven't seen magic being done with these kinds of cards - they're much harder and smaller (think hard carton rather than paper) so you'd have to come up with new routines specifically for them.
- Legogris 6y ago
  Oh, there are different materials and finish of hanafuda cards, even from Nintendo. I have a couple of different sets and used to play regularly years ago. The traditional ones have a really nice feel to them IMO!
chrisco255 6y ago
Still amazed that a company like Nintendo survived over 100 years of dramatic cultural and economic change in Japan and remains as relevant and innovative as ever. How is a company culture for creativity sustained like that for so long? Most corporations seem to go stale especially after the founders die off or fade out.
- tenebrisalietum 6y ago
  Wikipedia article for "List of oldest companies" - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_oldest_companies https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_oldest_companies - Japan has the oldest one still technically operating (which is Kongō Gumi). The good thing about this is that this shows that it's not impossible for Nintendo to be around 1000 years later.
  - sadsadsadsad 6y ago
    many generations of nintendy fanboys made this possible
- jkinudsjknds 6y ago
  Nintendo prospered after their head guy went to america to meet with their head of playing cards and found out it was some shitty back office, panicked, and tried to pivot rapidly. They tried, among many ideas, love hotels. Luckily some guy made this zany grabby arm that turned out to be a popular kids toy and the day was saved. Then they started making video games. The wikipedia is fairly entertaining.
Isamu 6y ago
After watching “Summer Wars” (spoiler alert: Japan is saved through a heroic game of Koi-Koi) I went shopping for a hanafuda deck and was delighted to find that Nintendo still makes them! I am still bad at Koi-Koi but I love my Nintendo cards! https://store.nintendo.com/daitouryou-hanafuda-cards-red.html https://store.nintendo.com/daitouryou-hanafuda-cards-red.htm...
- zapzupnz 6y ago
  They also included Koi-Koi in Clubhouse Games/51 Worldwide Games, recently released on the Switch. The 'Impossible' CPU is a fairly worthy opponent for a computer player (many others in the same collection are hopeless), making it very nice when you don't have a human with whom to play!
melvinroest 6y ago
Is it only Japan that has such a long time horizon? I feel like that a subset of Japanese companies really try their best to simply stay alive for hundreds of years. Just looking at this list, Japan just obliterates any other country in having the oldest companies in the world [1]. I feel like there are lessons to be learned here. I hope someone on HN knows a thing or two about it. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_oldest_companies https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_oldest_companies
- robotmay 6y ago
  I do recall something about how Japanese companies are traditionally careful with their money, and therefore expansion. I can't remember where I read it, but there was a tendency to save money during the good times by not chasing excessive growth in order to have a buffer for more difficult times. Maybe this is a reflection of the impetus on the leaders of companies to take responsibility for their failures, in that they are therefore less inclined to take risks; it's usually the CEO who resigns before they axe swathes of employees. From what I've seen of Japanese culture, I think they have a very interesting ability to explore their creativity but without straying too far from what they already know. Nintendo opts for tried-and-true hardware in their consoles, but implements creative new ideas using it. Craftsmen from Japan are renowned worldwide for things like woodcraft and musical instruments etc, and from the various videos I've watched the thing that has struck me most about their attitude to their craft is _patience_.
  - psychomugs 6y ago
    Relevant prior discussion on Nintendo's lateral thinking with withered technology [1]. [1] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22791300 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22791300
- bobthepanda 6y ago
  Japan has an extensive history of employers adopting male employees to keep successors "in the family", which may explain at least part of this: https://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/japanese-adoption-rates-majority-adult-men-a7524301.html https://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/japanese-adoption-r... The Western family unit has not generally been associated with business as strongly. One could also make the point that Japan's long time horizons were a leading factor in the "lost decade"; Western companies reorganize and recapitalize through bankruptcy and some do not survive the process, but Japan's focus on stability kept "zombie" companies operating longer than they should have.
Legogris 6y ago
In recent decades, hanafuda cards are probably used moreso in South Korea than in Japan in the game Go-Stop. Classic gambling game. It's really fun! https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Go-Stop https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Go-Stop Rules: https://www.pagat.com/fishing/gostop.html https://www.pagat.com/fishing/gostop.html
twic 6y ago
A fun (i thought) fact i heard the other day is that both Nintendo (founded 1889) and Coca-Cola (founded 1886) predate Dracula (published 1897). So it would be entirely euchronistic for an adaption to feature Dracula lounging about, drinking Coke and playing Nintendo.

69 points by polm23 6y ago

Very cool bit of Nintendo history, although as someone with a passion for cards, paper cards with a good finish are still the gold standard.

Isamu 6y ago
Seems like there isn’t a variety of finishes available like there used to be? Finding the right finish is critical in card handling and close up magic.
- Legogris 6y ago
  I own decks with 3 different material and feel to them and I haven't really went out of my way to look for them - just been picking them up when I'm out and about and either need a deck to play, for souvenirs, or see one I like. My favorite so far is an Evangelion themed one. A bit gimmicky and may be confusing to play with but I think the art is actually nice. http://www.tabroid.net/news/2012/06/enjoy-hanafuda-with-eva-fuda-evangelion-flower-card.html http://www.tabroid.net/news/2012/06/enjoy-hanafuda-with-eva-... That being said, I haven't seen magic being done with these kinds of cards - they're much harder and smaller (think hard carton rather than paper) so you'd have to come up with new routines specifically for them.
Legogris 6y ago
Oh, there are different materials and finish of hanafuda cards, even from Nintendo. I have a couple of different sets and used to play regularly years ago. The traditional ones have a really nice feel to them IMO!

chrisco255 6y ago

Still amazed that a company like Nintendo survived over 100 years of dramatic cultural and economic change in Japan and remains as relevant and innovative as ever. How is a company culture for creativity sustained like that for so long? Most corporations seem to go stale especially after the founders die off or fade out.

tenebrisalietum 6y ago
Wikipedia article for "List of oldest companies" - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_oldest_companies https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_oldest_companies - Japan has the oldest one still technically operating (which is Kongō Gumi). The good thing about this is that this shows that it's not impossible for Nintendo to be around 1000 years later.
- sadsadsadsad 6y ago
  many generations of nintendy fanboys made this possible
jkinudsjknds 6y ago
Nintendo prospered after their head guy went to america to meet with their head of playing cards and found out it was some shitty back office, panicked, and tried to pivot rapidly. They tried, among many ideas, love hotels. Luckily some guy made this zany grabby arm that turned out to be a popular kids toy and the day was saved. Then they started making video games. The wikipedia is fairly entertaining.

Isamu 6y ago

After watching “Summer Wars” (spoiler alert: Japan is saved through a heroic game of Koi-Koi) I went shopping for a hanafuda deck and was delighted to find that Nintendo still makes them! I am still bad at Koi-Koi but I love my Nintendo cards! https://store.nintendo.com/daitouryou-hanafuda-cards-red.html https://store.nintendo.com/daitouryou-hanafuda-cards-red.htm...

zapzupnz 6y ago
They also included Koi-Koi in Clubhouse Games/51 Worldwide Games, recently released on the Switch. The 'Impossible' CPU is a fairly worthy opponent for a computer player (many others in the same collection are hopeless), making it very nice when you don't have a human with whom to play!

melvinroest 6y ago

Is it only Japan that has such a long time horizon? I feel like that a subset of Japanese companies really try their best to simply stay alive for hundreds of years. Just looking at this list, Japan just obliterates any other country in having the oldest companies in the world [1]. I feel like there are lessons to be learned here. I hope someone on HN knows a thing or two about it. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_oldest_companies https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_oldest_companies

robotmay 6y ago
I do recall something about how Japanese companies are traditionally careful with their money, and therefore expansion. I can't remember where I read it, but there was a tendency to save money during the good times by not chasing excessive growth in order to have a buffer for more difficult times. Maybe this is a reflection of the impetus on the leaders of companies to take responsibility for their failures, in that they are therefore less inclined to take risks; it's usually the CEO who resigns before they axe swathes of employees. From what I've seen of Japanese culture, I think they have a very interesting ability to explore their creativity but without straying too far from what they already know. Nintendo opts for tried-and-true hardware in their consoles, but implements creative new ideas using it. Craftsmen from Japan are renowned worldwide for things like woodcraft and musical instruments etc, and from the various videos I've watched the thing that has struck me most about their attitude to their craft is _patience_.
- psychomugs 6y ago
  Relevant prior discussion on Nintendo's lateral thinking with withered technology [1]. [1] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22791300 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22791300
bobthepanda 6y ago
Japan has an extensive history of employers adopting male employees to keep successors "in the family", which may explain at least part of this: https://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/japanese-adoption-rates-majority-adult-men-a7524301.html https://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/japanese-adoption-r... The Western family unit has not generally been associated with business as strongly. One could also make the point that Japan's long time horizons were a leading factor in the "lost decade"; Western companies reorganize and recapitalize through bankruptcy and some do not survive the process, but Japan's focus on stability kept "zombie" companies operating longer than they should have.

Legogris 6y ago

In recent decades, hanafuda cards are probably used moreso in South Korea than in Japan in the game Go-Stop. Classic gambling game. It's really fun! https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Go-Stop https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Go-Stop Rules: https://www.pagat.com/fishing/gostop.html https://www.pagat.com/fishing/gostop.html

twic 6y ago

A fun (i thought) fact i heard the other day is that both Nintendo (founded 1889) and Coca-Cola (founded 1886) predate Dracula (published 1897). So it would be entirely euchronistic for an adaption to feature Dracula lounging about, drinking Coke and playing Nintendo.