History Main / Magic8Ball

A Magic 8-Ball is, in general, any tool that is used in order to gain advice or try to predict the future. It must be a prop or other physical object, since any characters would fall under {{Mentors}} or some other advice dispenser instead. It must be able to accept questions, and respond in turn.

* ''Fanfic/ArcCorp'': When Blake infiltrates the Schnee auction in Vale, the anomaly on offer is an unassuming magic 8-ball toy, except it apparently gives [[TheOmniscient specific and accurate answers]] to any question it's asked; something that has to be a trick given how the Schnees [[{{Troll}} usually operate]]. After Blake, Jaune, Ruby and Qrow (the latter under Ozpin's employ) snatch it in the middle of a criminal gang war over who gets to own the device, they discover that it's only magic so far as it can read the user's mind and spit back out any information ''they'' know, meaning it can only be used to jog one's memory. Qrow leaves upon this realization, and Arc Corp end up using it as a glorified paperweight for lack of anything else.

* Woody consults one in ''WesternAnimation/ToyStory1'', hoping that Andy would take him to Pizza Planet since he's only allowed to bring one toy. The result: "[[SnarkyInanimateObject Don't count on it]]".

* In an episode of ''Series/{{Seinfeld}}'', Patrick Warburton's character, Puddy, buys a jacket with a giant 8-Ball logo on the back.
-->'''Elaine:''' Are you going to wear that all the time?\\
'''Puddy:''' ''[points at the back of his jacket]'' All signs point to yes.

* In an episode of ''Series/ICarly'', Spencer relies on a "magic meatball" for all of his decisions. It makes him go through with several bad choices, e.g. drinking ketchup and buying an ostrich, but he finally tosses it when it won't tell him to take an offer to display his pop art sculptures in a gallery.
* An episode of ''Series/NedsDeclassifiedSchoolSurvivalGuide'' has Ned using a magic pyramid to figure out if he's going to fail a test or not. It gets smashed by the abrasive school counselor.

* After ''Series/TheBigBangTheory'' cast builds a battle robot, Raj suggests using it to cut open a magic eight ball to discover what is inside it.
* On ''Series/TheKingOfQueens'', the Mentalo toy from Doug's childhood (as well as its knockoff, Mental-Man) was a pull-string fortune-teller in a turban (or fez, respectively), but the character of its answers qualifies it as a variant of the eight-ball.
* Referenced in ''Series/BigWaveDaves''. Dave has an important decision to make and he asks Richie about what he should do because Marshall (his usual go-to guy for this sort of thing) is out of town.
-->'''Richie''': In that case why don't you ask your magic 8 ball?\\
'''Dave''': I did, it always came back "ask again later."
* ''Series/{{Angel}}''. Spoofed in "Players" with a literal Magic 8 ball that Lorne uses to tell fortunes.
* In the first installment of ''Series/TheColbertReport'' segment "Stephen Colbert's Bears and Balls" (parodying Jim Cramer's Mad Money and its reliance on sound effects buttons), Colbert's giant red button only had four phrases, "Yes!", "No!", "Ask again later," and "We'll be right back!"

In reality, a magic 8 ball is a classic toy consisting of a hollow plastic sphere containing blue liquid and a 20-sided die with different phrases printed on the sides. You would ask it a question, then flip it over and a random response would come up in the window built into it. As a result, there are various uses of the possible responses involved, as well as of the 8 ball itself. [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magic_8_ball The details and phrases involved can be found on]] Website/{{Wikipedia}}.

See also OuijaBoard.

* In ''Literature/GilsAllFrightDiner'', a teenage witch consults a spirit-inhabited Magic 8-Ball toy for information. Its responses are more varied than the original toy's options, but because the spirit doesn't like her much, it's not always much help.
* A magical magic 8-ball is used to communicate with a ghost in ''Literature/TheTrialsOfApollo''. This ghost cannot speak because he's missing a head, and touchy about being illiterate, so communicates with an 8-ball that occasionally shows what he wants to say.

* ''VideoGame/Fallout2'' has a "Magic 8-ball", which is found at an actual pool table in New Reno. Besides the vague advices, it occasionally reveals valuable in-game information like a computer password. If your Luck stat is high enough, you can get humorous messages from the authors. The hero wonders how advanced the ancestors were, if they created such a miracle.

** In the episode "Mr. Krabs Takes A Vacation", [=SpongeBob=]'s eyes form the triangles seen in a magic 8 ball.

** Milhouse gets a Magic 8-Ball for his birthday.
--->'''Bart:''' Cool! An oversized novelty billiard ball!\\
'''Milhouse:''' Yeah, you shake it up and it tells the future![[note]]Shaking the Magic 8-Ball is actually not recommended, as air bubbles can distort the answer that is displayed.[[/note]]\\
'''Bart:''' Really?\\
'''Milhouse:''' Uh huh.\\
'''Bart:''' ''[takes it]'' Will I pass my English test? ''[shakes it, reads]'' "Outlook not so good." Wow, it '''does''' work!
** Later in the episode, Bart uses the 8-Ball as a weapon when an enraged Milhouse attacks him; as he looks at its broken remains, he quips "Boy, I bet the 8-Ball didn't see ''that'' one coming."
* There's a minor background character on ''WesternAnimation/TheVentureBrothers'' named Manic 8-Ball, with this as his power. He's an underling of Baron Underbheit.

* On ''Series/{{Friends}}'' when Ross is faced with either divorce or cutting Rachel out of his life he resorts to consulting an 8-ball. His friends think the idea is ludicrous (except for Phoebe), but they can't come up with anything better. When it keeps displaying the "ask again later" message Ross gets mad and assumes it's broken so Monica decides to test it.

* One of the original DVD bonus features for ''WesternAnimation/{{Shrek}}'' featured the Magic Mirror functioning as a Magic 8-Ball, playing a randomly selected response at the press of a button. Many of the mirror's answers, such as "Without a doubt" and "My sources say no" are quoted directly from the 8-Ball itself.

* ''WesternAnimation/FamilyGuy'': In "Stevie's First Word", Peter finds an old Magic 8-Ball at a goodwill store and starts playing with it. When he asks it if Creator/{{FOX}} will survive in the age of streaming, [[ReadingsBlewUpTheScale it promptly explodes]].

** Later in the episode, Bart uses the 8-Ball as a weapon when an enraged Milhouse attacks him; as he looks at its broken remains, he quips "Boy, I bet the 8-Ball didn't see that one coming."

* The pilot of ''WesternAnimation/TheFairlyOddParents'' had Timmy ask his "Magic 9 Ball" when his parents will come home from the movies. It responds, "Film/{{Titanic|1997}}: [[{{Recut}} Director's Cut]]", suggesting that they'll remain absent for quite a while. A frustrated Timmy throws the ball at the wall, causing it to crack open and reveal Cosmo and Wanda.

* ''Fanfic/ArcCorp'': When Blake infiltrates the Schnee auction in Vale, the anomaly on offer is an unassuming magic 8-ball toy, except it apparently gives [[TheOmniscient specific and accurate answers]] to any question it's asked; something that has to be a trick given how the Schnees [[{{Troll}} usually operate]]. After Blake, Jaune, Ruby and Qrow (the latter under Ozpin's employ) snatch it in the middle of a criminal gang war over who gets to own the device, they discover that it's only magic so far as it can read the user's mind and spit back out any information ''they'' know, meaning it can only be used to jog one's memory (or as a lie detector, but Blake decides not to mention that possibility to Qrow due to JurisdictionFriction).

In reality, a magic 8 ball is a classic toy consisting of a hollow plastic sphere containing blue liquid and a 20-sided die with different phrases printed on the sides. You would ask it a question, then flip it over and a random response would come up in the window built into it. As a result, there are various uses of the possible responses involved, as well as of the 8 ball itself. [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magic_8_ball The details and phrases involved can be found on]] Wiki/{{Wikipedia}}.

* Parodied in ''LetsPlay/TwitchPlaysPokemon'', where the players keep checking the Helix Fossil every few minutes, asking it for guidance. It now has [[http://askhelixfossil.com its own website]].

* Magic 8-Balls are in ''Webcomic/{{Homestuck}}'', but there's a more powerful variant in the Magic Cue Ball, which gives perfect answers but has no window through which to see them. Vriska has an addiction to breaking actual Magic 8 Balls.

[[quoteright:320:[[WesternAnimation/ToyStory https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/magic8ball.jpg]]]]

* Woody consults one in ''WesternAnimation/ToyStory'', hoping that Andy would take him to Pizza Planet since he's only allowed to bring one toy. The result: "[[SnarkyInanimateObject Don't count on it]]".

-->'''Norb:''' Dag, get my hammer.\\

'''Dag:''' Indeed.

* On ''WesternAnimation/RockosModernLife'', Ed Bighead rises through the ranks at Conglom-O by following the advice of the Magic Meatball. Then it breaks and he ends up back where he started.

* In Harry Turtledove's ''The Valley-Westside War'', it is strongly implied that the Valley's king consults one of these to decide whether to go to war with the Westside and ultimately chooses to do so. FridgeHorror, especially when you consider that the 8-ball is significantly more likely to give an affirmative response than a negative one.

* Woody consults one in ''WesternAnimation/ToyStory'', hoping that Andy would take him to Pizza Planet since he's only allowed to bring one toy. The result: "Don't count on it".

* On ''Series/{{Friends}}'' when Ross is faced with either divorce or cutting Rachel out of his life he resorts to consulting an 8-ball. His friends think the idea is ludicrous (except for Phoebe), but they can't come up with anything better. It keeps displaying the "ask again later" message.

** The Magic Conch Shell.