1889

1889 saw two creations that would come to greatly influence the computer and video game industries.

Electromechanical punched card tabulating machine

On January 8, 1889, an American inventor named Herman Hollerith received a patent for an electromechanical punched card tabulating Machine, which improved upon the early devices that read punched cards mechanically.

It recorded information through a mechanized binary code in that it sent an electromechanical pulse that incremented a counter. A specified part of a card would be punched if one set of requirements was met or not punched if they were not.

Nintendo Koppai

On September 3, 1889, a Japanese businessman named Fusajiro Yamauchi founded Nintendo Koppai (任天堂骨牌, "Nintendo Cards").