A closer look

Inspiration strikes in the most mundane places. Nintendo engineer Gunpei Yokoi was riding the bullet train when he spotted an adult businessman furiously mashing the buttons of a basic pocket calculator just to pass the time. Yokoi realized that bored adults needed a distraction that could fit in their pockets, birthing the Game & Watch, and subsequently, the Game Boy. Your crippling handheld gaming addiction is entirely the fault of an exhausted Japanese commuter.