Product Description

The game is on! Get your hands on this book about one of the most influential companies in the video game industry.

Founded in 1889, Nintendo started out as a small playing card company in Japan. Though the cards sold well, Nintendo really became popular when it began creating toys in the 1960s, and then became internationally renowned after developing video games and consoles in the 1970s and '80s. After introducing the world to some of the best-known and top-selling video game franchises of all-time, such as Super Mario Bros., The Legend of Zelda, Animal Crossing, and Pokémon, it's clear to see why Nintendo is beloved by parents as a company that creates nonviolet, family-friendly entertainment for kids.

With fun black-and-white illustrations and an engaging 16-page photo insert, readers will be excited to read this latest additon to Who HQ!

About the Author

Gina Shaw is a writer and editor who has taught children's book writing at Hofstra University. She is the author of some Smithsonian books, including
Curious About Orangutans and
Curious About Snow. This is her first Who HQ book.

What Is Nintendo?

In 1979, an engineer who worked at Nintendo was taking a long train ride. His name was Gunpei Yokoi (say: GUN–pay YO–koh–ee). On the trip, he noticed a passenger playing with a calculator, pressing all the buttons on it. Gunpei was fascinated. At that time, Nintendo made large–size arcade games with big joysticks. But it suddenly struck him that a handheld gaming device might also be fun. So, he brought his idea to the president of Nintendo.

Did he like the idea?

Yes, a lot!

Right away, Gunpei and his team started to develop the Game & Watch. It was the perfect time for this—-liquid crystal display (LCD) technology had become inexpensive, and video games were now big business.

The finished product could fit in a child’s hand. It had only one game that was played on a screen. The Game & Watch was cheap, and had a long battery life. Most important of all, the game was fun to play.

The first Game & Watch game was Ball, and it was sold around the world. Gunpei had done it! The Game & Watch was a major success. Between 1980 and 1991, Gunpei’s team created sixty different Game & Watch devices.

Gunpei Yokoi worked from a single, simple idea. Because of his creative ability, he helped Nintendo make history in the video game industry.

Chapter 1: All in the Family

Nintendo was founded in Kyoto, Japan, all the way back in 1889 by Fusajiro Yamauchi (say: foo–SAH–ji–ro YAH–ma–oo–chi). Fusajiro was a wood–block printer and artist. His new company made beautiful playing cards called hanafuda. (The name comes from a combination of the Japanese words for flower and card.) The cards were made from tree bark. The ink for the designs was made from flower petals and berries.

At this time in Japan, the government banned all playing cards because gambling was against the law. And many card games involved gambling. After a while, though, the government let Nintendo sell its cards because they didn’t have numerals and were so beautiful.

In each deck of hanafuda cards, there are twelve suits—-each named for a month of the year and a flower. Each suit contains four cards, making a total of forty–eight cards. Many different card games can be played with hanafuda cards.

The cards sold well in Japan but nowhere else.

So, Nintendo remained a medium–size playing card company. To become bigger, it would need to head in new directions.

In 1929, after forty years as president of Nintendo, Fusajiro Yamauchi retired. His daughter had married a man who had been adopted by Fusajiro. His name was Sekiryo Kaneda Yamauchi (say: SE–ki–ryo KA–ne–da YAH–ma–oo–chi), and he was the next president of Nintendo.

When Sekiryo took over Nintendo, it was the largest playing card company in Japan. In his t