---
title: "Which came first, Facebook or Nintendo?"
description: "Facebook vs Nintendo: Nintendo came first, by 115 years — 1889 against 2004. What happened in each case, and why the dates are often given differently."
url: https://atoneplace.net/which-came-first/facebook-vs-nintendo/
site: "At One Place"
---

# Which came first, Facebook or Nintendo?

**Which came first, Facebook or Nintendo?: Nintendo**

1889 — 115 years before Facebook

Nintendo came first, by 115 years. Fusajiro Yamauchi began making hanafuda playing cards in Kyoto.

## Side by side

|  | Facebook | Nintendo |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Year | 2004 | 1889 |
| Date | 2004-02-04 | 1889-09-23 |
| Category | technology | company |
| What happened | TheFacebook launched for Harvard students only. | Fusajiro Yamauchi began making hanafuda playing cards in Kyoto. |

## Facebook

Facebook launched on 4 February 2004 restricted to Harvard email addresses, opened to other universities through 2004 and 2005, and to anyone over 13 with an email address in September 2006. It is six years younger than Google and a year older than YouTube. Its predecessor Facemash, which compared students' photographs, was shut down by the university within days in 2003.

## 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, Facebook or Nintendo?

Nintendo, by 115 years — 1889 against 2004.

### When did Facebook start?

2004. TheFacebook launched for Harvard students only.

### When did Nintendo start?

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

## Related pages

- [the Great Pyramid of Giza or Nintendo?](https://atoneplace.net/which-came-first/great-pyramid-vs-nintendo/)
- [the Eiffel Tower or Nintendo?](https://atoneplace.net/which-came-first/eiffel-tower-vs-nintendo/)
- [Germany or Nintendo?](https://atoneplace.net/which-came-first/germany-vs-nintendo/)
- [the hamburger or Nintendo?](https://atoneplace.net/which-came-first/hamburger-vs-nintendo/)
- [the lightbulb or Nintendo?](https://atoneplace.net/which-came-first/lightbulb-vs-nintendo/)
- [the car or Nintendo?](https://atoneplace.net/which-came-first/car-vs-nintendo/)
- [the aeroplane or Nintendo?](https://atoneplace.net/which-came-first/aeroplane-vs-nintendo/)
- [Nintendo or sharks?](https://atoneplace.net/which-came-first/nintendo-vs-sharks/)
- [Nintendo or Tyrannosaurus rex?](https://atoneplace.net/which-came-first/nintendo-vs-t-rex/)
- [Nintendo or the Statue of Liberty?](https://atoneplace.net/which-came-first/nintendo-vs-statue-of-liberty/)
- [Nintendo or the United States?](https://atoneplace.net/which-came-first/nintendo-vs-united-states/)
- [Nintendo or pizza?](https://atoneplace.net/which-came-first/nintendo-vs-pizza/)

## Sources

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