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10sparks

Nintendo began with cards

In 1889, Fusajiro Yamauchi began making and selling Japanese hanafuda cards in Kyoto, marking Nintendo’s beginning. That same year the Eiffel Tower was completed in Paris, while the Whitechapel murders associated with Jack the Ripper were ongoing in London. Nintendo’s initial product was playing cards, not a broad range of board games or accessories. [1–3]

AI-generated synthetic bonus illustration, not an authentic 1889 card set. Prompt: “Bright editorial still life showing traditional Japanese hanafuda flower playing cards beside a small Kyoto street scene and a distant Eiffel Tower outline, all evoking 1889. Include no modern video game consoles, no readable text, no Jack the Ripper imagery. Historically inspired ink and watercolor illustration.”

AI-generated synthetic bonus illustration, not an authentic 1889 card set. Prompt: “Bright editorial still life showing traditional Japanese hanafuda flower playing cards beside a small Kyoto street scene and a distant Eiffel Tower outline, all evoking 1889. Include no modern video game consoles, no readable text, no Jack the Ripper imagery. Historically inspired ink and watercolor illustration.”