> The company was named 任天堂骨牌 (Nintendō Karuta) when it was founded in 1898 to sell a traditional Japanese card game called Hanafuda (meaning "flower cards").

> The company was named 任天堂骨牌 (Nintendō Karuta) when it was founded in 1898 to sell a traditional Japanese card game called Hanafuda (meaning "flower cards"). Well, calling Hanfuda a traditional card game is bit like calling cocaine a traditional stimulant -- before pivoting into family entertainment, Nintendo got its start in life selling cards for illegal gambling to the Yakuza. Earlier, unsuccessful, diversification attempts included love hotels. Apparently the reason Nintendo branched into toys was a lucky accident: company president Yamauchi noticed one of his factory employees, Gunpei Yokoi (who later invented the d-pad and went on to design the game boy) fooled around with an extensible claw he'd built himself during lunch break. Yamauchi ordered him to productionize it, and it became a big hit (that may have saved the company from bankruptcy): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ultra_Hand https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ultra_Hand