Ninterview: Menko Cards And Niche Nintendo History – The Hunt For Mario's Rookie Card
A different kind of ‘game card’.
If you have ever read up on the history of Nintendo, you know that before it went into the video game business, the company began life by making cards and other novelties. The hanafuda and playing cards which Nintendo produced from its formation in 1889 took a back seat following the popularity of toys like the Ultra Hand in the 1960s, and the company would soon move into electronic games and, ultimately, arcade and video games.
But this is not to say that the company left cards behind completely. Nintendo-branded Japanese Menko cards were released in Japan in the early 1980s and collector Ben Gilmore has a sizeable colletion of these lesser-known Nintendo-branded cards. This milk cap/Pog-like tabletop game is older than Nintendo itself, and there are Nintendo Menkos with Mario designs that date from the plumber’s pre-NES arcade days.
Read the full article on nintendolife.com
