Magic 8 Ball

File:8 ball face.JPG

The standard face of a Magic 8-Ball

The Magic 8-Ball, manufactured by Mattel, is a toy used for fortune-telling. Invented in 1946 by Abe Bookman of the Alabe Toy Company, it is a hollow, plastic sphere resembling an oversized, black and white 8-ball. Inside is a white, plastic, icosahedral die floating in a dark blue liquid. Each of the 20 faces of the die has an affirmative, negative, or non-committal statement printed on it in raised letters. There is a transparent window on the bottom of the 8-ball through which these messages can be read.

To use the ball, it must be held with the window initially facing down. After "asking the ball" a yes-or-no question, the user then turns the ball so that the window faces up, setting in motion the liquid and die inside. When the die floats to the top and one of its faces is pressed against the window, the raised letters displace the blue liquid to reveal the message as white letters on a blue background. Contrary to popular belief, it is not necessary to shake or jostle the ball before turning it, as doing so can create air bubbles that may visually distort the answer.

Standard answers

File:Inside The 8 Ball.gif

Inside the Magic 8-Ball. The raised letters of one face have been colored blue to make the message more readable.

The 20 standard answers on a Magic 8-Ball are:

• ● As I see it, yes
• ● Ask again later
• ● Better not tell you now
• ● Cannot predict now
• ● Concentrate and ask again
• ● Don't count on it
• ● It is certain
• ● It is decidedly so
• ● Most likely
• ● My reply is no
• ● My sources say no
• ● Outlook good
• ● Outlook not so good
• ● Reply hazy, try again
• ● Signs point to yes
• ● Very doubtful
• ● Without a doubt
• ● Yes
• ● Yes - definitely
• ● You may rely on it

Ten of the possible answers are affirmative (●), five are negative (●) and five are non-committal (●).

ǎ== Variations == Since the emergence of the first Magic 8-Ball numerous variations of the concept have appeared. Some popular ones are:

Affirmation Ball

A yellow ball with a smiley face on it that gives twenty random affirmations to the user, such as "You look marvelous" or "Your breath is so minty".

Sarcastic Ball

The antithesis of the Affirmation Ball, this one provides answers such as "Do I Look Like I Care?" and "Yeah, Right".

Pink 8-Ball

A version made with dating in mind, this ball gives advice on love, romance and dating; it is often known as the "Magic Date Ball" or "Love Ball".

Yoda Magic 8-Ball (1999)

Kentucky Fried Chicken, Pizza Hut and Taco Bell kids meals' premium toys included a tie-in with the movie Star Wars Episode I. One of the toys was a Yoda figure based on the Magic 8-ball. Instead of a ball, this variation was Yoda seated on his repulsor chair with the viewing window in the bottom.

Simpsons Magic 8-Ball (2002)

Mattel released a limited-edition Magic 8 Ball on the theme of the television program The Simpsons. Colored yellow and red with an image of Bart Simpson spray painting the number "8", the ball's answers are all well known quotes from the show, such as "D'oh!" (a catch phrase of Homer Simpson), "Excellent..." (Montgomery Burns) and "Okeley Dokeley" (Ned Flanders).

Kirby Magic 8-Ball (2005)

Wendy's introduced a line of toys featuring the Nintendo video game character Kirby. One of them was a statuette of Kirby with a chef's hat and frying pan, with answers appearing in his open mouth. When its arm was pulled, it would give the answers: "Ask Again Later", "Maybe", "No", "Yes" and "ZZZZ...".

Kiss & Tell Fortune-Telling Lip Gloss (January 2006)

Hard Candy cosmetics introduced the Magic 8-Ball – inspired Kiss & Tell Fortune-Telling Lip Gloss, with flavors such as "Destiny" and "Kismet". A window in the cap of each gloss gives answers such as "No", "OK" and "Yuk".

Aye Ball (Summer 2006)

McDonald's happy-meal toy tie-ins with the movie Pirates of the Caribbean 2 included an Aye Ball, based on the Magic 8-Ball. This variation was not a ball, but was instead a skull with an eye patch. The pirate-themed answers were revealed by lifting the eye patch.

High School Musical (2007)

A red Magic 8-Ball produced as a tie-in to the Disney Channel movie High School Musical. In the movie, this variant is sent to a princess by the one she loves. When she asks if they will live together happily forever, the ball says, "It is certain".

SpongeBob AnswerPants (March 2007)

Burger King introduced SpongeBob SquarePants-themed Kids' Meal toys, one dubbed SpongeBob AnswerPants. Cube-shaped to resemble SpongeBob, this toy is essentially a Magic 8-Ball with 6 possible answers. Said answers are "Aye, Aye", "Crabsolutely", "Oh Barnacles! No", "Sounds Fishy", "Water Is Murky" and "You'll Sea Soon".

Klein Magic 8-Ball (Since 1991)

A version made with percentage points used to increase the landed cost of imported goods.

Hannah Montana 8-Ball

Baby blue in color. Example of answer: "The fans say yes."

JDizzy? 8-Ball

Answer example "GET STOCK!"

External links

• The Magic 8-Ball: An Unofficial Home Page includes photographs of the dissection of a Magic 8-Ball.
• Secrets of the Magic 8 Ball revealed
• http://www.my8ball.co.uk/ The Spiritual/Magical Eight Ball
• Ask the Magic Eight Ball A javascript eight ball that uses all the official answers
• AllKnowingBall.com An online version of the Magic 8 Ball with a twist.
• Magic 8 Ball An online version of the Magic 8-ball with official and unofficial answers.
• Magic iEightBall An online version of the Magic 8-ball for the Apple iPhone and iPod Touch products.