Nintendo Co., Ltd.[a] is a Japanese multinational consumer electronics and video game company headquartered in Kyoto. Nintendo is one of the world's largest video game companies by market capitalization, creating some of the best-known and top-selling video game franchises, such as Mario, The Legend of Zelda, and Pokémon.

Founded on 23 September 1889 by Fusajiro Yamauchi, it originally produced handmade hanafuda playing cards. By 1963, the company had tried several small niche businesses, such as cab services and love hotels. Abandoning previous ventures in favor of toys in the 1960s, Nintendo developed into a video game company in the 1970s, ultimately becoming one of the most influential in the industry and one of Japan's most-valuable companies with a market value of over $37 billion in 2018.[3].mw-parser-output .toclimit-2 .toclevel-1 ul,.mw-parser-output .toclimit-3 .toclevel-2 ul,.mw-parser-output .toclimit-4 .toclevel-3 ul,.mw-parser-output .toclimit-5 .toclevel-4 ul,.mw-parser-output .toclimit-6 .toclevel-5 ul,.mw-parser-output .toclimit-7 .toclevel-6 ul{display:none} Nintendo was founded as a playing card company by Fusajiro Yamauchi on 23 September 1889.[4] Based in Kyoto, the business produced and marketed Hanafuda cards. The handmade cards soon became popular, and Yamauchi hired assistants to mass-produce cards to satisfy demand.[5] In 1949, the company adopted the name Nintendo Karuta Co., Ltd.,[b] doing business as The Nintendo Playing Card Co. outside Japan. Nintendo continues to manufacture playing cards in Japan[6] and organizes its own contract bridge tournament called the "Nintendo Cup".[7] The word Nintendo can be translated as "leave luck to heaven", or alternatively as "the temple of free hanafuda".[8][9]