Magic 8 Ball

An 8-ball was used as a fortune telling device in the 1940 Three Stooges short, You Nazty Spy, in which it was referred to as a "magic ball". While Magic 8 Ball did not exist in its current form until 1950, the functional component was invented by Albert C. Carter, who was inspired by a spirit writing device that was used by his mother, Mary, a Cincinnati clairvoyant. When store owner Max Levinson was approached by Carter about stocking the device, he called in his brother-in-law Abe Bookman, a graduate of Ohio Mechanics Institute. In 1944, Carter filed patent for his device, assigning it to Bookman, Levinson, and another partner in what came to be Alabe Crafts, Inc. (Albert and Abe) in 1946. Under the Alabe name, they marketed and sold the device as The Syco-Seer. Carter, who, according to Bookman, was an alcoholic, died sometime before the patent was granted in 1948. Bookman soon made improvements to the Syco-Seer and in 1948, it was encased in an iridescent crystal ball. Though unsuccessful, the revamped product caught the attention of Chicago's Brunswick Billiards. In 1950 they commissioned Alabe Crafts to make a version in the form of a traditional black and white 8-ball.

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