The Magic 8 Ball: From 1940s Toy to Digital Oracle

Ask a question, turn the ball over and wait for an answer to float up out of the dark blue liquid. The Magic 8 Ball has worked the same way for more than 70 years, but it did not start life as a pool ball. It began in Cincinnati in the 1940s as a fortune-telling gadget in a tube. This is the documented story, with sources at the end.

A clairvoyant's chalkboard

The toy's roots are in a Cincinnati family of fortune tellers. Albert C. Carter's mother was a local clairvoyant who used a sealed chalkboard device to "answer" clients' questions. The Strong National Museum of Play calls it the Syco-Slate and names her as Mary Carter; a WCPO history of the toy calls the device the Psycho-Slate and names her Laura Carter Pruden. Either way, the idea was the same: a closed box that seemed to produce a message on its own.

Albert Carter wanted to build something more reliable. His version, which became known as the Syco-Seer, was a tube filled with thick liquid, with a floating die inside that pushed one answer up against a window.

The patent and Alabe Crafts

Carter filed a US patent application for a "Liquid Filled Dice Agitator" on September 23, 1944. The patent, US 2,452,730, was granted on November 2, 1948. The die it describes is a buoyant cube, not the 20-sided die used today. The patent was assigned in shares to three Cincinnati men: half to Abe Buchmann, and a quarter each to Julius Mintz and Max E. Levinson.

Buchmann later changed the spelling of his name to Bookman, and it is under that name that he is remembered as the man who turned the gadget into a product. According to WCPO, Levinson was Bookman's brother-in-law and a shop owner who wanted to sell the Syco-Seer but thought it needed refining. Carter and Bookman formed Alabe Crafts in 1946, its name joining "Al" and "Abe". Carter died in 1948, before his patent was granted, and Bookman carried the project on.

From crystal ball to 8 ball

Bookman reworked the device several times. One version was set inside a clear crystal ball, a fitting look for a fortune teller that did not catch on. The breakthrough came around 1950, when Brunswick Billiards, the pool table maker, commissioned Alabe Crafts to make a version shaped like a black 8 ball. WCPO reports that Bookman first sold it as a paperweight before it became known as a fortune-telling toy, and the ball still has a flat spot on the bottom so it can sit on a desk.

That is why you will see two dates for the toy. The company and the tube-shaped device date from the mid-1940s, which is where the 1946 often given as its birth date comes from, while the familiar 8 ball dates from about 1950.

How the ball works

Inside the window floats a 20-sided die, an icosahedron, with one answer in raised letters on each face. When you turn the window up, the die rises until one face presses flat against the window. The liquid is dyed dark blue; the Strong Museum describes it as diluted propylene glycol, while other accounts mention alcohol, and the formula may simply have changed over the years.

The 20 answers are split 10 positive, 5 non-committal and 5 negative. That means a yes-type answer comes up half the time and a no-type answer only a quarter of the time, so the ball leans optimistic. You can see every answer and the odds of each in our full list of Magic 8 Ball answers.

Owners, fame and the Toy Hall of Fame

Bookman sold Alabe Crafts to the Ideal Toy Company in 1971. The brand later passed to Tyco Toys, which was bought by Mattel in 1997, and Mattel still makes the ball today. Along the way it became a fixture of popular culture. The Strong Museum notes appearances on The Dick Van Dyke Show in the 1960s and later on Friends, Seinfeld, Murphy Brown and The Daily Show, plus licensed versions featuring characters such as Homer Simpson and Hello Kitty. In 2011 Time magazine included it in a list of the 100 greatest toys, and on November 8, 2018 it was inducted into the National Toy Hall of Fame.

Claims to be careful with

Many online histories of the toy repeat details that are hard to support. You will see it described as a finished toy invented in 1946, or credited with enormous lifetime sales. The record shows a gradual development, from a 1944 patent application for a tube with a floating cube to a black 8 ball around 1950. We have not found a reliable source for an all-time sales total, so this article does not give one. Accounts also differ on the name of Carter's mother and of her device, as noted above. Where the sources disagree, we say so rather than picking the most exciting version.

Using a Magic 8 Ball for decisions today

Nobody seriously thinks the ball can see the future, which is exactly why it is useful. It works well for small choices where either option is fine and you just need a nudge: which film to watch, whether to have dessert, whether to text first. It is also a reliable party game, since everyone can guess the answer before it floats up. Some people use it as a writing prompt: ask a question, read the answer, then note whether you agree and why.

A simple way to get more out of it is to notice how you react. If the ball says "Outlook not so good" and you feel relieved, that tells you more than the ball does. For bigger decisions, combine it with a proper method from our guide on how to make a decision when you can't decide.

Not sure what to ask? See our 80 questions to ask a Magic 8 Ball.

If you do not have one on your desk, our free online Magic 8 Ball uses the same 20 classic answers. Type your question, shake or click, and read your fate.

Fun facts

• The original patent describes a floating cube, which has room for only six answers.
• "Alabe" is a blend of the founders' first names, Albert and Abe.
• Its 8 ball shape began with an order from Brunswick, a billiards company.
• One answer in four is a non-answer such as "Reply hazy, try again", which makes the ball feel more mysterious than a plain coin flip.
• The ball's inventor never saw his patent granted; Carter died in 1948, the year it was issued.

Sources

• The Strong National Museum of Play (2018), Outlook Good: Magic 8 Ball Inducted into the National Toy Hall of Fame.
• Google Patents, US 2,452,730: Liquid filled dice agitator, Albert C. Carter, filed 1944, granted 1948.
• WCPO Cincinnati, Name from History: Abe Bookman created future-telling Magic 8 Ball right here in Cincinnati.
• Wikipedia, Magic 8 Ball.

FAQ

Who invented the Magic 8 Ball?

Albert C. Carter of Cincinnati invented the liquid-filled answer device and patented it. Abe Bookman, his partner in Alabe Crafts, refined it and turned it into the Magic 8 Ball.

When was the Magic 8 Ball invented?

Carter filed his patent in 1944 and Alabe Crafts was formed in 1946. The familiar black 8 ball version dates from around 1950.

How many answers does a Magic 8 Ball have?

20: ten positive, five non-committal and five negative, printed on a 20-sided die.

Who makes the Magic 8 Ball today?

Mattel. The brand passed from Alabe Crafts to Ideal in 1971, then to Tyco, which Mattel bought in 1997.