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The Magic 8-Ball, manufactured by Mattel , is a Toy used for Fortune-telling . Invented by Abe Bookman in 1946 of the Alabe Toy Company, it is a hollow, plastic sphere resembling an oversized, black and white 8-ball . The fortunes are given by a white plastic Die in the shape of an Icosahedron , floating in a blue liquid, with answers to yes-no questions in raised letters on its 20 triangular faces. There is a transparent window on the bottom of the 8-ball, and when the ball is held so that the window faces up, the die floats to the top Randomly exposing one of its faces in the window. As the raised white letters press against the window, they drive the dark blue liquid to the sides, away from the raised letters, so that the letters appear as white print on a still-dark-blue background, where a thin layer of fluid remains between the raised letters.

To use the ball, the user must hold it with the window down, then turn the ball so that the window faces up. In the window, one face of the die will be visible, revealing the response to the user's question. Contrary to popular belief, it is not necessary to shake or jostle the ball before turning it, which can consequently create air bubbles that often visually distort the answer. Despite its name the Magic 8-Ball is not in fact magic, it only displays one message randomly out of a possible 20 messages.


STANDARD ANSWERS


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 variations of "yes", five are ambiguous and five are variations of "no".


VARIATIONS

After the emergence of the first magic 8 ball, numerous variation of the concept have appeared. Some popular ones are:


Affirmation Ball

A variation of the Magic 8-Ball, is a yellow ball with a Smiley Face on it that gives twenty randomly-chosen Affirmations to the user such as "You look marvelous" or "Your breath is so minty".http://www.mcphee.com/items/10519.html


Pink 8-Ball

The Pink 8-Ball was another version of the Magic 8-Ball made with dating in mind which gave advice on love, romance and dating, this was often known as the "Magic Date Ball" or "Love Ball".


Sarcastic Ball

Sarcastic Ball is the antithesis of the Affirmation Ball and provides answers such as "Do I Look Like I Care?" and "Yeah, Right".http://www.mcphee.com/items/10500.html


Yoda Magic 8-Ball ( 1999 )

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


Simpsons Magic 8-Ball ( 2002 )

Mattel released a limited edition Simpsons Magic 8 Ball, colored yellow and red with an image of Bart Simpson spray painting the number 8. The answers are all quotes from the show such as "D'oh!", "Excellent..." and "Okeley Dokeley".


Kirby Magic 8-Ball ( 2005 )

Wendy's Old Fashioned Hamburgers Featured a line-up of Kirby toys. 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...".


Answer wheel Gizmo ( 2005 )

GameTime launched the answer wheel Gizmo, an exclusive item that lets kids spin a wheel on a playground apparatus to get similar type answers.


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 s' 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.


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".


IN TELEVISION AND FILM



IN POPULAR MUSIC

  • Austin area indie/ Ska band The Impossibles often opened shows with the song "Eightball", which was dedicated to the toy. Strangely, the song recognizes the use of dice in magic 8-balls, but mistakenly identifies them as multiple Four-sided Dice .

  • American third-wave ska band Less Than Jake included a song called "Ask the Magic 8-Ball" on their 1996 Capitol Records debut Losing Streak .

  • Canadian indie rock band Cub has a song called "Magic 8 Ball" on their album ''Box of Hair''. In this song they sing "Decidedly So".



OTHER

  • One of the main characters in the Marvel Comics series The Craptacular B-Sides goes by the name "Fateball" and uses her "Magic Fateball" as a means of fighting crime. This version has apparently unlimited answers, though still limited to affirmative/negative meanings.

  • A Magic 8-Ball is featured as an item in the computer game Fallout 2 . When used, it gives random answers not limited to the ones in the real product (like "Keep shaking me, and there’ll be trouble") and sometimes, with sufficient Luck, actually useful hints.

  • In one Penny Arcade strip, a character uses a "Magic Hate Ball" which insults the user.

  • In one strip of Real Life , Greg uses Tony's Magic 8-Ball to see if he likes the new Pepsi can design, to which he gets the answer "It's bad-ass, and you know it".

  • In Sam & Max Hit The Road , a Magic 8-Ball can be found in the Mystery Vortex area.

  • A Magic 8 Ball is one of the Virtual gifts that can be purchased for 1USD and given from one user to another on the popular Social Networking website Facebook.com .



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