How a Playing Card Company Became Nintendo

In 1964, Nintendo was 75 years old and in deep trouble: its stock had crashed from 900 yen to 60, its taxi company was gone, and its instant rice had failed. Twenty years later, it rescued the entire video game industry. This is the story of how a small Kyoto card shop became one of the most famous names in entertainment, and why its biggest wins almost never came from the most powerful technology. They came from one idea a quiet factory engineer called "lateral thinking with withered technology." ⏱️ CHAPTERS 0:00 Cold Open: Kyoto, 1964 0:58 Chapter 1: The Card Maker 2:05 Chapter 2: The Young Boss 3:36 Chapter 3: The Toy Maker 5:16 Chapter 4: America 6:56 Chapter 5: The Crash 8:21 Chapter 6: Pockets and Power 10:33 Chapter 7: The Gamer President 12:23 Chapter 8: Switch 13:05 Epilogue: Thinking Sideways 📚 SOURCES Nintendo Co., Ltd. Investor Relations: dedicated video game sales units (as of June 30, 2026) Wikipedia: History of Nintendo; Hiroshi Yamauchi; Gunpei Yokoi; Ultra Hand; Shigeru Miyamoto; Donkey Kong (1981); History of the Nintendo Entertainment System; Game Boy; Pokémon Red and Blue; Satoru Iwata Stories that are popular but unproven (the meaning of the name "Nintendo," the "love hotel" claim, the bullet-train calculator moment) are presented as such in the video. 🎨 All illustrations are original artwork created for this channel. Music is original AI-generated music made with Artlist. This video is an independent documentary and is not affiliated with, sponsored by, or endorsed by Nintendo. #Nintendo #BusinessHistory #GamingHistory #GunpeiYokoi #Documentary