Magic 8-Ball came from a clairvoyant’s prop.
Inspired by his mother’s spirit-writing device, Albert Carter invented a die-in-a-cylinder fortune-teller, the “Syco-Seer,” which Alabe Crafts sold from 1946. Brunswick Billiards put it in a billiard-ball shell in 1950. In 1997 Mattel paid $755 million for the toy’s owner, Tyco Toys, and the clairvoyant’s prop came with the deal.
Magic 8-Ball on Brandseum