ISSUE 76– STEVE KOVACS FUN WITH MAPS

DAILY FEATURE: By Steve Kovacs (Introduction by Chuck Gibson)

LOVELAND, OH (September 23, 2020) – In Issue 76 of Steve Kovacs Fun with Maps we learn Nintendo began before electricity and long before electronic games

Nintendo’s Super Mario came much later. . . (Stock Photos)

Want to play cards. . . Nintendo style?

Nintendo is 131 years old today.

Yep, before broad distribution of electricity. 

And, of course, the company founded in Kyoto, Japan as Nintendo Koppai, originally made a product line which had nothing to do with games powered by electricity: playing card games.

Nintendo ventured out to other fields by the 1960s and launched its first video game console in 1977.

What followed is a kid’s dream: Gameboy, Nintendo DS, WII, etc.  And, who can forget games and franchises such as Animal Crossing, Mario, Donkey Kong, Super Smash Brothers and Pokemon. 

Did you, your kids or grandkids enjoy a Nintendo product?  I would think so.  Which one(s)?

Here is Hondius’s 1630 map of Japan and Korea (as an island).  Europeans didn’t know much about this part of the world back in those days.

1630 map of Japan and Korea (as an island) (Credit Steve Kovacs)

Steve Kovacs and his wife Theresa reside in Loveland, Ohio where they raised their two children. He is a passionate collector of antique maps.

Click here to visit his antique map boutique world-on-paper online. Watch for his daily feature Steve Kovacs: Antique Maps & Fun Facts here on Loveland Beacon.