134 years ago, in the Shimogyō-ku district, in Kyoto, a company called Nintendo Koppai was born, specialized in hanafuda cards. In 1933, it was renamed as Yamauchi Nintendo & Co and they managed to buy a small two-story building where, now, the door reads “Playing Cards. The Nintendo Playing Card Co.”. And there’s more: you can stay overnight inside.
Nintenhotel
In April 2022, in the former offices of Nintendo in Kyoto, the Marufukuro opened, a luxury hotel with 18 rooms that used to be the place where the Yamauchi family rested. If you’re excited about staying here, get ready to shell out, because one night can cost up to $1300. The good thing is that you can indulge in playing the Switch in the first big Nintendo factory. The bad thing is that if you’re not an influencer, it probably won’t be worth it for you.
Throughout the hotel there are different references to what was done there before. For example, as soon as you enter, you can see a statue of Nintendo’s hanafuda cards mascot: Napoleon Bonaparte. In addition, there are a lot of elements from the cards, but nothing that is representative of Nintendo itself to avoid legal problems. If you want Mario to serve you and Link to ride with you in the elevator, this is not your hotel. This is something else.
And the Marufukuro hotel has no direct reference to Nintendo, despite the fact that the majority of tourists who stay there do so precisely because of its connection to the company. But there is a little bit of it at home: the building has been renovated by No. 10, a company created by Banjo Yamauchi, the grandson of the legendary Hiroshi Yamauchi, who intends to “represent Nintendo’s tough history” without mentioning it. Wonders of hotel restoration.
If it caught your attention, maybe you can afford at least one night for less than 300 euros and experience the history of video games firsthand. Who knows: maybe some hanafuda ghost cards will visit you at night…
