---
title: "Which came first, Google or Nintendo?"
description: "Google vs Nintendo: Nintendo came first, by 109 years — 1889 against 1998. What happened in each case, and why the dates are often given differently."
url: https://atoneplace.net/which-came-first/google-vs-nintendo/
site: "At One Place"
---

# Which came first, Google or Nintendo?

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

1889 — 109 years before Google

Nintendo came first, by 109 years. Fusajiro Yamauchi began making hanafuda playing cards in Kyoto.

## Side by side

|  | Google | Nintendo |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Year | 1998 | 1889 |
| Date | 1998-09-04 | 1889-09-23 |
| Category | technology | company |
| What happened | Google Inc. was incorporated in a garage in Menlo Park. | Fusajiro Yamauchi began making hanafuda playing cards in Kyoto. |

## Google

The date used here is the incorporation, 4 September 1998. Two others compete: the research project called BackRub began at Stanford in 1996, and the google.com domain was registered on 15 September 1997. Google itself has celebrated its birthday on four different September dates over the years, which is a fair indication that no single one is correct. It is younger than Amazon, eBay and Netflix.

## 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, Google or Nintendo?

Nintendo, by 109 years — 1889 against 1998.

### When did Google start?

1998. Google Inc. was incorporated in a garage in Menlo Park.

### 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

- Typical range compiled from manufacturer specifications — At One Place (/about/)
- Wikidata — Wikimedia Foundation (https://www.wikidata.org/) [CC0 1.0]