Way back on September 23, 1889, a businessman in Kyoto named Fusajiro Yamauchi started a company called "Nintendo Koppai" to manufacture a type of Japanese playing card, called hanafuda. In the six-score years since, while Nintendo still makes playing cards in Japan, the company has become slightly better-known for its line of electronics.

You owe it to yourself to read about the history of the Nintendo Company. Now valued at over US$85 billion, they're easily one of the most recognized videogame companies in the world. But along the road to that destination, they tried some... interesting ideas, including instant rice and love hotels. Fortunately for kids and videogame geeks everywhere, Fusajiro Yamauchi's grandson Hiroshi put the company on the path that led to its rise in the global electronic gaming market.

So take a moment today while playing your Wii or DSi after work, or during work, or instead of work, to remark that today marks 120 years since the founding of a company that has brought a great deal of fun to millions of people. They are also majority owners of the Seattle Mariners baseball team, about which you can make what you will.

(Logo trademark of Nintendo Co., Ltd., used under fair use. Photo via Flickr user gin_e under CC license.)