Nintendo Corporation’s dominance in the gaming industry didn’t begin with the Super Mario Bros. game or its first video game console. In fact, the company established itself as a quality gaming company nearly 70 years before the first video game was invented. Not only did Nintendo bring back the popularity of video games after the industry crashed in 1983, but it first established itself in the 19th century when it brought card games back to Japan. Here’s the history of Nintendo, from its humble beginnings to the Switch era.

When Japan broke off relations with the Western world in 1633, a ban was placed on all foreign playing cards, as they encouraged illegal gambling. Playing cards were extremely popular at the time (especially for gambling), so it wasn’t long before the Japanese began creating their own decks. The first of these were designed for a game called Unsun Karuta, but eventually the game was used as a form of gambling as well, so the government banned them as well. A series of new decks, followed by subsequent government bans, continued for the next century.

Eventually, in the 19th century, a new card game was invented, Hanafuda. It used pictures instead of numbers, so it could not be used for gambling. The government relaxed its laws on playing cards and allowed the sale of Hanafuda cards. Unfortunately, the constant bans and lack of gambling took their toll and the new card game received a lukewarm response, until a young entrepreneur, Fusajiro Yamauchi, came on the scene.

In 1889, 29-year-old Fusajiro Yamauchi opened his company Nintendo Koppai, which produced Hanafuda cards, which consisted of drawings on cards made from mulberry bark. Fusajiro sold the cards in two Nintendo Koppai stores. The quality of the art and design brought Hanafuda enormous popularity and established Nintendo as the top gaming company in Japan.