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Weird Things Nintendo Sold Before They Made Video Games

This is for all the Nintendo game lovers pout there. You will be amazed to know that your favorite video game manufacture didn’t always manufacture video games instead they pretty much sold anything that they could sell and make a profit off. Some of these weird things that Nintendo sold before they got into game making business are as follows.

Supplying the Yakuza’s Illegal Gambling Rings

Gambling Rings

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Nintendo first major business venture was making cards and selling them to the Japanese Yakuza the biggest crime syndicate in the world. Hey made cards that were used for their illegal casinos. The business was such a hit that Nintendo made killer profit off of it and even today, Nintendo is the largest card selling brand in Japan.

Love Hotels and Nude Cards

Nude Cards

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In 1960’s the owner of the Nintendo Company was a man named Hiroshi Yamauchi who inherited it from his grandfather. The company side tracked its original card making policy and under the reign of Yamauchi they started making pornographic cards and their special collection was for the Marilyn Monroe’s playboy pictures on every card deck. This was not the end for the sex addict Yamauchi was he also opened Nintendo’s famous pay per hour hotels in Japan as well. Although rumor is that these hotels were built for Yamauchi’s own perusal gains.

A Corrupt Taxi Company

Corrupt Taxi Company

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Nintendo’s anther major business enterprise was opening of a taxi company called Daiya which even made huge profit for at least two solid months. The reason was that company didn’t paid wages to its employees so employees after suffering for these few months unionized and the Company went down under.

Knockoff LEGO Blocks

LEGO Blocks

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Nintendo before even venturing into video game business tried to steal the ideas for many of the renowned toys and one of them was even the famous LEGO toy. Nintendo didn’t placed much effort in copying these blocks as they only changed the name to Nintendo N&B Blocks and the rest was like ordinary Lego blocks. However LEGO Company soon realized of this fraudulent affair and sued Nintendo for their illicit business. Fortunately for Nintendo, they won the lawsuit big time but nonetheless soon Nintendo N&B Blocks went out of business.

One of the First Electronic Drum Machines

Electronic Drum Machines

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In 1972, Nintendo made the first programmable electronic Drum machine and it was named as Ele-Conga. The machine had five tiny buttons on top of it which were pressed to play different sounds. Sadly for many of Nintendo’s earlier ventures, this idea also did not last long.

Vacuum Cleaners

Vacuum Cleaners

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In 1970’s Nintendo after facing many failed business tried their hand at home appliances and introduced their first ever Nintendo Vacuum cleaner by name of Nintendo Chiritori. They were efficient in design but poor in working quality so yeah they also did not worked out pretty well for Nintendo.

Office Supplies

Office Supplies

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In 1970’s Nintendo also tried their hand at making office supplies and selling them at most discounted prices. However the discount part was appropriated by making faulty office supplies which ran down under a year so this business also did not thrived.

The Ultra Hand

Ultra Hand

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The Ultra Hand made by Nintendo in 1960’s actually was one of heir popular toys that nearly saved company from bankruptcy n 60’s company sold almost 1 million of these bad boys as a hit new toy in the market.

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Written by Suddl

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