<P> The Magic 8 - Ball is a toy used for fortune - telling or seeking advice, developed in the 1950s and manufactured by Mattel . It is often used in fiction since the answer can sometimes be accurate, inaccurate, or statistically improbable . </P> <P> An 8 - ball was used as a fortune - telling device in the 1940 Three Stooges short, You Nazty Spy!, and called 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, inspired by a spirit writing device used by his mother, Mary, a Cincinnati clairvoyant . When Carter approached store owner Max Levinson about stocking the device, Levinson called in his brother - in - law Abe Bookman, a graduate of Ohio Mechanics Institute . In 1944, Carter filed for a patent for the cylindrical device, assigning it in 1946 to Bookman, Levinson, and another partner in what came to be Alabe Crafts, Inc . (Albert and Abe). Alabe marketed and sold the cylinder as The Syco - Seer . Carter died sometime before the patent was granted in 1948 . Bookman 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 . </P> <P> The Magic 8 - Ball is a hollow plastic sphere resembling an oversized, black - and - white 8 - ball . Inside, a cylindrical reservoir contains a white, plastic icosahedron floating in alcohol dyed dark blue . Each of the die's 20 faces has an affirmative, negative, or non-committal statement printed in raised letters . These messages are read through a window on the ball's bottom . </P> <P> To use the ball, it must be held with the window initially facing down . After "asking the ball" a yes - no question, the user then turns the ball so that the window faces up, setting in motion the liquid and die inside . When the die floats to the top and one face presses against the window, the raised letters displace the blue liquid to reveal the message as white letters on a blue background . Although many users shake the ball before turning it upright, the instructions warn against doing so to avoid white bubbles, which interfere with the performance of the ball itself . </P>

How many answers are on a magic 8 ball