The Magic 8 Ball is a plastic sphere, made to look like an oversized , that is used for

fortune-telling Fortune telling is the practice of predicting information about a person's life. Melton, J. Gordon. (2008). ''The Encyclopedia of Religious Phenomena''. Visible Ink Press. pp. 115-116. The scope of fortune telling is in principle identical w ...

or seeking advice. It was invented in 1946 by Albert C. Carter and Abe Bookman and is currently manufactured by

Mattel Mattel, Inc. ( ) is an American multinational toy manufacturing and entertainment company founded in January 1945 and headquartered in El Segundo, California. The company has presence in 35 countries and territories and sells products in more ...

. The user asks a

yes–no question In linguistics, a yes–no question, also known as a binary question, a polar question, or a general question is a question whose expected answer is one of two choices, one that provides an affirmative answer to the question versus one that provid ...

to the ball, then turns it over to reveal an answer in a window on the ball.

Origin

The functional component of the Magic 8 Ball was invented by Albert C. Carter, who was inspired by a

spirit writing Automatic writing, also called psychography, is a claimed psychic ability allowing a person to produce written words without consciously writing. Practitioners engage in automatic writing by holding a writing instrument and allowing alleged spir ...

device used by his mother Mary, a Cincinnati

clairvoyant Clairvoyance (; ) is the magical ability to gain information about an object, person, location, or physical event through extrasensory perception. Any person who is claimed to have such ability is said to be a clairvoyant () ("one who sees cl ...

. When Carter approached store owner Max Levinson about stocking the device, Levinson called in Abe Bookman, Levinson's brother-in-law, and graduate of

Ohio Mechanics Institute The University of Cincinnati College of Applied Science (CAS) was an applied science college at the University of Cincinnati in Cincinnati, Ohio Cincinnati ( ) is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Hamilton County. Sett ...

. In 1944, Carter filed for a patent for the cylindrical device, assigning it in 1946 to Bookman, Levinson and another partner in what came to be Alabe Crafts, Inc., combining the founder's names, Albert and Abe. Alabe marketed and sold the cylinder as The Syco-Slate. Carter died sometime before the patent was granted in 1948. Bookman made improvements to The Syco-Slate, and in 1948 it was encased in an iridescent

crystal ball A crystal ball, also known as an orbuculum or crystal sphere, is a crystal or glass ball and common fortune-telling object. It is generally associated with the performance of clairvoyance and scrying in particular. In more recent times, the cry ...

. Though not successful, the revamped product caught the attention of Chicago's Brunswick Billiards, who in 1950 commissioned Alabe Crafts to make a version in the form of a traditional black-and-white 8 ball,Walsh, Tim. (2001). ''The Playmakers: Amazing Origins of Timeless Toys'', pp. 94–5. Keys Publishing, Sarasota. . which was possibly inspired by a gag in the 1940

Three Stooges The Three Stooges were an American vaudeville and comedy team active from 1922 until 1970, best remembered for their 190 short subject films by Columbia Pictures. Their hallmark styles were physical farce and slapstick. Six Stooges appeared ...

short film A short film is any motion picture that is short enough in running time not to be considered a feature film. The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences defines a short film as "an original motion picture that has a running time of 40 minutes ...

, ''

You Nazty Spy! ''You Nazty Spy!'' is a 1940 comedy film directed by Jules White and starring American slapstick comedy team The Three Stooges (Moe Howard, Larry Fine, and Curly Howard). It is the 44th short film released by Columbia Pictures starring the comedi ...

''.

Cultural impact

Although originally sold as a

paperweight A paperweight is a small solid object heavy enough, when placed on top of papers, to keep them from blowing away in a breeze or from moving under the strokes of a painting brush (as with Chinese calligraphy). While any object, such as a stone, ...

, the Magic 8 Ball would remain popular for several decades. It was popular as both an

office toy An office toy (also known as an executive toy or a desk toy) is a novelty item typically placed on the desk of a corporate executive or other office worker. They have no work-related function, but are often intended to provide decoration or pleasu ...

and a children's toy. In 1971, Bookman sold Alabe Crafts, Inc., to

Ideal Toys Ideal Toy Company was an American toy company founded by Morris Michtom and his wife, Rose. During the post–World War II baby boom era, Ideal became the largest doll-making company in the United States. Their most popular dolls included Betsy ...

who marketed the ball firmly at children. In 1987, the rights were again sold to

Tyco Toys Tyco Toys was an American toy manufacturer. It was acquired by Mattel in 1997. History Founding Mantua Metal Products was a Woodbury Heights, New Jersey, metalworks business founded in 1926 by John Tyler and family. In the 1930s Mantua began ...

, spurring on another marketing campaign and resurgence in interest. Despite its numerous owners, the Magic 8 Ball has changed little in design and implementation.

Design and usage

The Magic 8 Ball is a hollow plastic sphere resembling a black-and-white 8 ball. Its standard size is larger than an ordinary pool ball, but it has been made in different sizes. Inside the ball, a cylindrical reservoir contains a white plastic 20-sided

regular icosahedron In geometry, a regular icosahedron ( or ) is a convex polyhedron with 20 faces, 30 edges and 12 vertices. It is one of the five Platonic solids, and the one with the most faces. It has five equilateral triangular faces meeting at each vertex. It ...

die Die, as a verb, refers to death, the cessation of life. Die may also refer to: Games * Die, singular of dice, small throwable objects used for producing random numbers Manufacturing * Die (integrated circuit), a rectangular piece of a semicondu ...

floating in approximately of alcohol dyed dark blue. Each of the die's 20 faces has an affirmative, negative, or non-committal statement printed in raised letters. These messages are read through a window on the ball's bottom. To use the ball, it must be held with the window initially facing down to allow the die to float within the cylinder. After asking the ball a

, the user then turns the ball so that the window faces up. The die floats to the top, and one face presses against the window; the raised letters displace the blue liquid to reveal the message as white letters on a blue background. Although most users shake the ball before turning it upright, the instructions warn against doing so to avoid white bubbles. While the Magic 8 Ball has undergone very few changes, an addition in 1975 by new owners,

Ideal Toy Company Ideal Toy Company was an American toy company founded by Morris Michtom and his wife, Rose. During the post–World War II baby boom era, Ideal became the largest doll-making company in the United States. Their most popular dolls included Betsy ...

, fixed the bubble problem. Their patented "Bubble Free Die Agitator", an inverted funnel, rerouted the air trapped inside. The solution has been utilized ever since.

Possible answers

A standard Magic 8 Ball has twenty possible answers, including ten affirmative answers (●), five non-committal answers (●), and five negative answers (●).

Film adaptation

A live-action

horror film Horror is a film genre that seeks to elicit fear or disgust in its audience for entertainment purposes. Horror films often explore dark subject matter and may deal with transgressive topics or themes. Broad elements include monsters, apoca ...

based on the toy was reportedly in development in 2021 at

Blumhouse Productions Blumhouse Productions (; also known as BH Productions or simply BH) is an American film and television production company founded in 2000 by Jason Blum. It is known mainly for producing horror films, such as ''Paranormal Activity'', ''Insidio ...

, with

Jeff Wadlow Jeffrey Clark Wadlow (born March 2, 1976) is an American writer, producer and director. Feature films that he has both written and directed include ''Truth or Dare'', '' Kick-Ass 2'' and ''Fantasy Island''. Life and career Wadlow was born in ...

signed on as the director. In August 2022, Blumhouse announced it was no longer producing the movie.

Patents

* —''Liquid Filled Dice Agitator ca. 1944'' *—''Liquid filled die agitator containing a die having raised indicia on the facets thereof, 1962'' *—''Amusement Device ca. 1961''

References

External links

* {{Mattel Products introduced in 1946 Cue sports toys and games Divination software and games Novelty items Mattel 1940s toys 1950s toys 1960s toys 1970s toys 1980s toys 1990s toys 2000s toys 2010s toys