Nintendo opens museum in Japan on its history, from playing cards to video game consoles

Visitors rush to visit this establishment located in a former factory in the suburbs of Kyoto. All tickets have already been sold for October and November.

Mamma mia! Mario must be curling his mustache. Nintendo opened its own museum in Japan on Wednesday October 2, allowing visitors to discover and sometimes experience the more than 130 years of history of the Japanese video game giant, whose activities began with playing cards. This museum, located a few kilometers from the center of Kyoto, where the group’s headquarters are located, is located on the grounds of a former factory where the company notably made “hanafuda”, traditional Japanese playing cards.

It features many of the company’s products, which have existed since 1889 and which has also been involved in various fields, from Western card manufacturing to toys and board games, before achieving worldwide success with its video games. “We wanted to show the evolution of entertainment while showcasing the elements that have been shared and built over the years” by Nintendo, explained the famous creator Shigeru Miyamoto, father of Mario, in a video posted online at the end of August.

More unexpected items made by Nintendo, such as a photocopier or a stroller, are also on display. An interactive part also allows you to play via a smartphone with giant cards projected on the ground, to hit balls thrown by a machine with a bat in a Japanese interior from the 1960s and 70s or to control video games via a giant controller requiring two people to coordinate their movements.

Entrance tickets are on sale via a lottery system, with an adult entry costing 3,300 yen (20 euros). All tickets have already been sold for October and November. This museum is part of a strategic shift launched by Nintendo around ten years ago in order to increase the number of people in contact with its characters, via derivative products and the opening of stores or amusement parks – like the “Super Nintendo World” areas in the Universal Studios parks in Japan or the United States.

The movie Super Mario Bros. released last year was also a hit in theaters, ranking second at the global box office in 2023. This museum also participates in this strategy in the sense that Nintendo “thus creates an environment where people can interact with its franchises”said Kensaku Namera, analyst at Nomura Securities. Moreover, “the museum is located on a former production site, so it is an efficient reuse of assets” of the company.