Magic 8 Ball

The magic 8 ball is a toy that can provided yes or no answers to questions ask of it. It's basically a large ball filled with a liquid with a icosahedron solid inside with all the different possible answers. When turned over a new faces comes to the surface. The possible answers are:

The answers were printed on a icosahedron which floated in a thick blue liquid. The font used was small caps sans serif. 50% of the answers were positive, 25% were negative, and 25% were vauge.

Here is a full list of the Magic 8 Ball's 20 answers

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

The Magic 8 Ball is one of the most succesful toys ever. Some variation of it can almost always be found in family households.

This morning I was watching Looney Tunes, and there was this one called "Hobo Bobo." It made me wonder about the origin of the Magic 8 Ball.

It starts out with a forest scene, apparently in India. A narrator starts to tell us a story about elephants:

In India, the elephant's tremendous strength has been harnessed for many labors. Sort of skin-covered jeeps. Although they work for peanuts, they never complain. Well, almost never.

And here we are introduced to our cranky protagonist.

Now once there was a little elephant, Bobo by name, who was very discontented with his lot. Bobo, because he was little, was given little logs to carry. But he knew as he got bigger and bigger, he would be given bigger and bigger logs. To Bobo, his future looked very dark.

Bobo walks past a crystal ball sitting on a little wooden stand carved in the shape of an elephant. He stops and looks into it, and the narrator says:

Oh, much darker than that.

The crystal ball turns into an 8 ball.

There, that's more like it.

It's a visual pun. Bobo, from our vantage point, is sitting behind the eight ball. Exactly where you don't want to be.

This conflation of crystal ball and eight ball made me wonder if this cartoon had given someone the idea for making the oracle that we call the Magic 8 Ball. Or maybe the cartoon, as Looney Tunes often did, was just making a cheeky little reference to a cultural phenomenon of the times.

The Big Cartoon Database says that "Hobo Bobo" was originally released by Warner Brothers on May 17, 1947. The Magic 8 Ball is said to have been invented by Abe Bookman of the Alabe Crafts Company in Cincinnati. Some sources say that he invented it in 1946. Others just say that it happened "in the late 40s."

So, are the two related? Signs point to yes. Which came first? The Magic 8 Ball says "Better not tell you now."

(If I ever find out, I'll let you know.)