Photo by 大臣官房人事課, cropped (CC BY)
The useless fact
What product did Nintendo originally make?
Answer: Japanese playing cards, specifically hanafuda.
Why It’s True
Nintendo started in 1889 making Japanese playing cards, specifically hanafuda. History.com documents it in “Super Mario history and Nintendo facts.”
- Category
- Nerd Culture
- Decade
- 1980s
- Franchise
- Mario
- Difficulty
- Easy
- Updated
- Fact-checked November 5, 2026