---
title: "Which came first, the Eiffel Tower or Nintendo?"
description: "the Eiffel Tower and Nintendo both date from 1889. What happened in each case, and why the dates are often given differently."
url: https://atoneplace.net/which-came-first/eiffel-tower-vs-nintendo/
site: "At One Place"
---

# Which came first, the Eiffel Tower or Nintendo?

**Which came first, the Eiffel Tower or Nintendo?: Both the same year**

Both 1889

Both arrived in 1889. The tower opened for the Paris Exposition Universelle. Fusajiro Yamauchi began making hanafuda playing cards in Kyoto.

## Side by side

|  | the Eiffel Tower | Nintendo |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Year | 1889 | 1889 |
| Date | 1889-03-31 | 1889-09-23 |
| Category | landmark | company |
| What happened | The tower opened for the Paris Exposition Universelle. | Fusajiro Yamauchi began making hanafuda playing cards in Kyoto. |

## the Eiffel Tower

Built for the 1889 World's Fair and intended to be dismantled after twenty years, the Eiffel Tower survived because it turned out to be useful as a radio antenna. It was the tallest structure in the world until the Chrysler Building in 1930. It opened in the same year Nintendo was founded, and two and a half years after the Statue of Liberty it is often assumed to predate.

## Nintendo

Nintendo was founded in 1889 to make handmade hanafuda cards, and it was a playing-card company for about eighty years. It is older than the Ford Motor Company (1903), older than the aeroplane, older than the Eiffel Tower by five months, and older than the modern Olympic Games. Before settling on video games in the 1970s it tried taxis, instant rice and a chain of love hotels.

## Common questions

### Which came first, the Eiffel Tower or Nintendo?

Both date from 1889.

### When did the Eiffel Tower start?

1889. The tower opened for the Paris Exposition Universelle.

### When did Nintendo start?

1889. Fusajiro Yamauchi began making hanafuda playing cards in Kyoto.

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## Sources

- Wikidata — Wikimedia Foundation (https://www.wikidata.org/) [CC0 1.0]