magic eightball info
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).- From Wikipedia