KoE Blog: Akinator vs Magic 8 Ball

Akinator vs Magic 8 Ball Blog

Elokence vs Mattel

“Honestly thinking about it, I think I think too. And the worse part is that most of these will never see the light of day”

-Fish Jr.

Intro

People always tend to find themselves intrigued with the mysterious and unknown. Looking to their devices to seek out guidance. These mystical forces are believed all across the world. But what happens when you make something that plays into these elements to simply just pass the time in our day to day lives.

Akinator, the mind-reading genie.

“Hello, I am Akinator”

 The Magic 8 Ball, the fortune-telling 8 ball.

“Ask a question…”

This is such a dumb and stupid and dumb match up and I actually have to break down what we’ll be using because this could either be very simple or the messiest blog ever.

For Akinator, it is fairly simple as we’ll be looking at the Akinator Website and Mobile versions. Things like its Social Media’s as well as the Elokence Website.

For The Magic 8 Ball, things could get really really weird, but we can actually break this down into something more simple. We’ll be looking at everything that either falls under Albert C. Carter and Abe Bookman, the original creators, Alabe Crafts, their company, Ideal Toys, which acquired Alabe Crafts in 1971, Tyco Toys, who later got the rights as well, and finally Mattel, who acquired Tyco Toys in 1997. We’ll also be looking at a couple old versions of the 8 Ball before they landed on the final hit. As well as social media from Mattel and commercials.

Akinator

• Akinator Website

• Akinator Mobile version

• The fabulous story of Akinator 

• Akinator the Genie Twitter

• official akinator Facebook

• Akinator Youtube 

• Elokence Website

• Statement by Creates

Magic 8 Ball

• The Syco-Slate 

• Magic 8 Ball Fortune Teller 

• High Roller Dice Game

• Magic 8 Ball and it’s various themes

• Magic LOVE Ball

• Magic Date Ball

• Magic 8 Ball Figure8

• Hot Wheels Magic 8 Ball Decidedly Go

• Magic 8 Ball App

• Magic 8 Ball: The Board Game

• Magic 8 Ball: Magical Encounters Board Game

• Commercials

• Social Medias

• Statements by creates

Dude… I honestly could not tell you what led me to making this match up, to researching this match up, to making an entire blog on it. But I do not regret this decision. This was pretty much a Lucky blog…

This is the most blog to have ever blogged.

I hate that Akinator guy, him and his DUMB smug smile. Don't listen to them btw. Lucky... I will cut you down, break you apart, splay the gore of your profane form across the STARS! I will grind you down until the very SPARKS CRY FOR MERCY! My hands shall RELISH ENDING YOU... HERE! AND! NOW!

Yes this mu is awesome 

Hey Akinator Akinator: hello shaggy Hey 8-Ball 8-Ball: hello shaggy

Haha i am Evil Shaggy and i am red

Disclaimer: This is mainly for fun, so things may be wrong, but you know it's about the journey not the destination. (also probably spelling mistakes but like) also Spoilers.

Background

The Mind reading Genie

A lamp lay dormant for many many years. Until one day, two people would happen upon it in the desert. Those two people being Arnaud and Jeff. they would try and use it to summon an all-powerful genie, but instead they got. The Akinator, the mind reading genie. It would tell them to guess a character, and it would guess it. The two would grow tired of him and try to leave, but to no avail. So they came up with a solution. They would create a website and give it to Akinator. And that is how the Akinator website was born.

The website is popular throughout the entire world. To date, 1,309,153,863 total games have been played since the website went up in 2007. The developers behind Akinator, Elokence, have gone on to work with people like Google and Amazon to bring Akinator to other platforms with real time responsiveness. This small little company had created a favorite time passer; with the website still getting thousands of daily visits.

The Fortune telling 8 Ball

Albert C. Carter first thought of a toy that was inspired by spirit writing, which was shown to him by his mother, who was a Cincinnati clairvoyant. He would soon invent the idea of a device that would answer questions you ask it. But he wanted his toy to get out there, so he went to Max Levinson to stock this device. Levinson called up Abe Bookman, and him and Carter would create this cylindrical device that did exactly what he set out for. This device was The Syco-Slate.

While this device would get improvements over the years, in the year 1950, it would take the shape of the classic 8 Ball from Billiards, being called the Magic 8 Ball. The toy would gain a massive population due to its simple novelty. Nowadays the toy is owned by Mattel, and it’s still doing strong numbers in sales.

Weapons and Equipment

Akinator

Akinator.com

The Akinator Website was created for Akinator to talk and play with people all across the world. He uses this to directly talk to you.

Old Oil Lamp

The Akinator resided inside of an Old Oil Lamp. He is bound by it, but he can bind others to the lamp if they don’t answer his questions truthfully.

Phone

He’s got a phone. What else do you want me to say.

Outfits

The Akinator does have many different outfits other than it’s usually one that it’s found with. While I can't find all of them, some notable ones are the Pirate outfit with it’s Cutlass and the Knight outfit that has a suit of armor.

Aki Awards

The Aki Awards are awarded to you by Akinator depending on what you guess. The more obscure one, the higher the trophy you get. There are also daily challenges that can give you awards as well.

Traps

Akinator has set a trap in Akinator. If you fail this trap, you’ll be penalized by losing awards and even getting booted from the game. These are only set off if you cheat in the game.

Magic 8 Ball

Egg Compartment

The Easter version of the 8 Ball has a small compartment that can hold goodies inside of it.

Figure8 Body

Mattel has created Figure8, which is pretty much a stand in the shape of a body for the Magic 8 Ball. These bodies are usually presented as wearing a hoodie. The one specifically made for the Magic 8 Ball is one based on the original Syco-Slate.

Decidedly Go

Decidedly Go is the Car the 8 Ball has in Hot Wheels. The model itself is based on the Beatnik Bandit by Ed Roth in 1960. The Car itself can come in either a purple or light blue. It also has a transparent bottom to let you see the Magic 8 Ball’s response.

Tokens

These are the main forces going on in the 2001 board game. You have to get and keep all your Tokens. These can be taken by the 8 Ball depending on challenges and space you land on.

Magic 8 Ball Game Board Base (2001)

In the 2001 Board Game, the Magic 8 Ball sits in the center of the game board and base. This board has some special spaces on it. When you land on a space, you must draw a Magic 8 Ball Card corresponding to the colour you land on. The Yellow Space lets you talk to the 8 Ball and see if you lose or keep your Tokens.

The board also gives some benefits like immunity for Magic 8 Ball Cards if you land on one of the corners. You still have to participate in challenges, but you don’t lose tokens.

In the Fate Section of the game, the game changes and what the board does can change as well. The Four corner 8 Balls will now make someone the Great 8 Potentate. The Yellow Spaces can be used to either get a token back or become the Great 8 Potentate.

Fortune/Fate Cards

When you land on a coloured space, you must draw a Magic 8 Ball Card. There are four different colours to draw from, each one having a fortune and fate prompt. In the first half of the game, everyone must do the Fortune side of the card, which is for the group. If you fail in any way, you lose your token. 

When the game switches to the fate section, you must do the Fate side of the cards. These ones are for individual people, and if you lose, you’ll have to give up your Token, but you can also gain these tokens back.

Magic 8 Ball Cards

Sometimes you may draw a Magic 8 Ball Card. These cards can be used whenever you fail a challenge, letting you give it to someone else, making them forfeit their token instead. 

In the Fate section, it can change who the Great 8 Potentate is or even give you back your tokens.

Encounter Cards

These are Cards that have special effects on them. These effects can depend on what the 8 Ball determines. There are 13 different events that can happen.

• GO TO A TOWER. 

• Immediately place your hero on any tower space.

• GO TO THE DRAGON’S LAIR.

• Immediately place your hero on the Dragon’s Lair.If Gadworm is also there, you lose a health point.

• GO TO THE GIANT’S HOUSE. 

• Immediately place your hero on the Giant’s House space. If Gadworm is also there, you lose a health point and move your character to the Dragon’s Lair.

• GO TO THE GRIFFIN’S NEST.

• Immediately place your hero on the Griffin’s Nest space. If Gadworm is also there, you lose a health point and move your character to the Dragon’s Lair.

• GO TO THE MERMAID’S SHORE.

• Immediately place your hero on the Mermaid’s Shore space. If Gadworm is also there, you lose a health point and move your character to the Dragon’s Lair.

• GO TO THE GNOME’S GARDEN

• Immediately place your hero in the Gnome’s Garden space. If Gadworm is also there, you lose a health point and move your character to the Dragon’s Lair.

• TELEPORT ANOTHER PLAYER TO YOU.

• You must choose a player and move their hero to the closest unoccupied space next to you. If that space has a token, they may take it. They do not get an Encounter Card. 

• TELEPORT TO ANOTHER PLAYER.

• You must choose a player and move your hero to the closest unoccupied space next to them. If that space has a token, you may take it. You do not get an Encounter Card.

• MOVE 2 MORE SPACES.

• You MAY move UP TO 2 more spaces. If that space has a token, you may take it. You do not get an Encounter Card.

• MOVE 3 MORE SPACES. 

• You MAY move UP TO 3 more spaces. If that space has a token, you may take it. You do not get an Encounter Card.

• ROLL AGAIN AND MOVE. DO NOT MOVE GADWORM.

• Roll the die again and move UP TO the number of spaces shown. Gadworm does not move at all this turn from the die roll or encounter. If that space has a token, you may take it. You do not get an Encounter Card.

• TAKE A TREASURE TOKEN.

• Pick up a Treasure Token from the reserve. 

• GADWORM MOVES 4 SPACES.

• Move Gadworm 4 spaces. If it comes to a split path, choose the color from the original die roll.

Skills and Abilities

Akinator

Extensive Knowledge

Akinator has extensive knowledge of many many characters that are real and fiction. He does this through asking dozens of questions before settling on a character he thinks you’re thinking of. In total, there have been 1,308,819,375 games since 2007.

Multilingual

Akinator can speak 15 different languages. 

Floating

As a genie, he has no legs and floats around. He’s even described as moving freely with the wind.

Heat Manipulation

When emerging from his lamp, his lamp will heat up to the point it hurts to hold.

Smoke Manipulation

Akinator can create clouds of smoke to form himself.

Entrapment/Sealing

If you do not answer the Akinator’s questions accurately, you’ll take his place inside of the lamp, being trapped inside.

Supernatural Stamina

He is described as having inexhaustible energy. He is even said to be able to play with everyone across the world for days and nights.

Longevity

He has lived for a long time, being a genie and all.

Telekinesis

At the end of the mobile version, they move this symbol around the sky and other things as well depending on the themes.

Mind Reading?

He is always depicted as being able to read minds. And while the game itself doesn’t show this, places elsewhere also do describe him as being able to read minds

Magic 8 Ball

Magic 8 Ball Physiology

The 8 Ball is a very strange device. Originating from The Syco-Slate in 1948, it’s gotten some improvements and adjustments over the years. The actual shape of the 8 Ball is, well, an 8 Billiard Ball. The inside however is different. It’s filled with a Liquid Filled Die Agitator. Due to the density of the 20-sided die, it floats to the top of the ball. You use this to and the window on the back to see its answer.

Now in terms of more interesting stuff for it. In the 2001 board game, it also has a timer that counts down. It also determines who goes first and how many spaces you move in the game.

As for if this thing is alive, it’s kind of debatable. It answered questions you ask it, and you’ve even seen it move on itself. These responses do seem to suggest it does actually have sentience and what it says is factual and true. It’s even seen changing sides on the die without being shaken. The Magic 8 Ball is also called the most powerful object in the land

Fortune Telling

The Magic 8 Ball is also depicted as being a fortune telling item that can answer questions. It can predict future events.It's even said to be asking the universe when you ask the 8 Ball.

It usually does this through 20 different responses, some being positive, some being neutral and others being negative. In other themes, it can actually say other text, but it mostly stays constituent with its responsiveness.

It can even tell you the truth about dating and love through the Magic Date Ball or the romance related one. That one has other repsonsisess 

Stealing

If either the timer ends, you cannot think of an answer in time, repeat and answer, or incorrectly perform a physical challenge, must forfeit a Token to the board.

Reverse Play Order

Whenever someone fails and a Token is forfeited, the turn order is reversed. 

Fate Manipulation

The Magic 8 Ball can seemingly decide fate for things. Not only for things like if you lose your Token, but also to the players. They must perform Fate cards. The Great 8 Potentate can also avoid their fate, which are extensions of the 8 Ball.

This also extends to Magical Encounters Board Game, which can make certain events happen depending on its answer.

Lock Manipulation

The Magic 8 Ball can magically unlock doors for the Heroes.

Karma Manipulation

Its responses can result in either Positive, Neutral or Negative effects that can aid or go against you.

Supports

Akinator

None

Magic 8 Ball

Great 8 Potentate

Great 8 Potentate is the game master and keeper of the Magic 8 Ball. the Great 8 Potentate’s role is to draw the Fortune/Fate Card and fill in the Fate portions of the text. Everyone must do what the Great 8 Potentate says in order to get Tokens back and win.

This role can be passed to others however by the Game board. When someone lands exactly on the 8 Ball Corners, they will become the next Great 8 Potentate.

The Great 8 Potentate can also avoid their fate, getting tokens back without doing challenges.

The Four Students

In the Magical Encounters board game, four students use the magi 8 Ball to help them throughout the game. They mainly fight the Gadworm Dragon along with the 8 Ball.

Resistances

Akinator

None Notable

Magic 8 Ball

None Notable

Physical Feats

Akinator

Strength

• No real showings suggesting he’s stronger than an average human.

• Can move around objects with his telekinesis.

• The heat from the lamp burned Jeff a little.

Durability

• If he was smoke, it would be hard to hurt him.

• Has no showings of being more durable then the average person.

• Has knight armour

Speed

• Was able to keep up with Arnaud Jeff while they were getting away on camel back.

• Camels can move around 25 MPH.

• In a day, they answered 50,928,000 questions, which is 590 per second. 

Magic 8 Ball

Strength

• Would hurt if thrown at you

• Can teleport the heroes around.

• It can be the size of a castle.

Durability

• Is created from plastic most of the time 

• Compared to their real world counterparts, Billard Balls are made from phenolic resin.

• Survived falling off a stationary car.

• It can be the size of a castle

Speed

 

• Is mostly stationary.

• Can roll around.

• Decidedly Go is a car.

Weaknesses

Akinator

He can be pretty frustrated when he can guess the characters you are thinking of. He in fact doesn’t like to hear about that fact he can’t get it right.

Magic 8 Ball

While it is alive to some capacity, the 8 Ball itself can’t move by itself. It usually relies on others to help move it around. 

Its effects are also not fully decided by itself, rather things that are already set in motion by fate. 

Things of note

Does Akinator read minds?

So everyone knows how Akinator isn’t exactly spot on in the game. Sometimes it can get things wrong and some of the questions it asks are just strange. Unlike the magic 8 Ball, which does have actual canon depictions of it having mystic abilities, Akinator doesn’t show any for Mind Read.

For instance, in his back story he tries to guess the creators characters, despite them not really thinking of a direct character. These are just claims from himself about reading minds. We even see him using his phone to possibly look things up. So it’s not hard to believe that he doesn’t have Mind reading abilities.

The counter to this, media depicting Akinator is very scary. All we have is the official back story, app descriptions and statements made by the creators and Akinator himself. I mean, most people don’t even know about the official back story. 

Really you could technically argue either or. But for this blog, Akinator lacks as much media as the 8 Ball, which originates all the way back to 1950s.

Final Thoughts

(Art from Lucky)

(Art from Fish Jr

Not that we’ve covered these two mystical beings could win against each other in a fight. Can the Akinator wish to beat this ball, or will fate say otherwise.

Physical Stats

This is a pretty silly category to talk about, but it’s important to mention. It’s not terribly difficult to break. Regardless if we equate it as the plastic toy or the actual Billard ball; humans have broken both. Akinator could theoretically break it.

The only thing is… the castle sized 8 Ball… it’s huge and even if it was plastic it would still be hard to break. The sheer size of it as well would be a problem. If that were to roll over Akinator, it would probably kill him if he wasn’t a cloud of smoke. Really it’s kind of just a speed thing.

Akinator's top speed could theoretically get to 25 miles per hour. The issue is the 8 Ball has a car… Most modern cars can reach past 25 miles per hour. Something to bring up is Akinator’s thinking feat. The average person has about 6,000 thoughts per day, or about 1 thought every 10 seconds. Akinator answered 50,928,000 in a day, or 590 per second. That’s 59 times faster than a normal person. And you have to remember, this is responding to questions all around the world in multiple different languages. While this is a good feat all things considered when it comes to thinking and processing, it still wouldn’t really help against a car… Akinator is faster then the magic 8 Ball without it though, but that’s because it’s stationary.

The 8 Ball could be broken by Akinator, but if it were to get to the size of the castle, Akinator wouldn't be able to do much. Meanwhile the 8 Ball could just roll over Aki or hit him with a car. Not to mention with its car, it’s considerably faster than Aki. Not to mention the 8 Ball has ways around it being stationary. With its supports, using its car, using its body, or even just rolling around. The 8 Ball wins this category.

Skills and Abilities

This is an interesting category. They have wildly different abilities. One’s a mind reading genie and the other is a fortune telling 8 Ball, but which one has greater abilities.

While Aki doesn’t have many abilities, he does have some notable ones. For instance, if he’s a cloud of smoke 8 Ball wouldn’t be able to hurt him. He can heat up his lamp to make sure no one uses it to get rid of Aki. However the two most important ones are sealing inside of the 8 Ball and Mind Reading.

 If they could land the sealing, it would most certainly be a win for Aki, but the problem is that it requires actively living on questions. Yes, the 8 Ball is alive and could lie, but why would it do so? It has no real incentive and it would know the outcome if it did due to its haxes (which we will get too). Aki can’t activate it willingly.

Meanwhile for mind reading, it’s a bit of a different story. We’ve already mentioned that the 8 Ball is alive and has a mind, seeing to how it answers. So, he should be able to read the mind of the 8 Ball. This would actually let it see everything that the 8 Ball see’s, evening out the playing field when it comes to seeing the future.

So, what about 8 Ball’s haxes? Reverse Play Order or Lock Manipulation isn’t really helpful here, but stealing does give some benefit of taking any items that Aki has, besides the lamp, as it gets countered. The big things for the 8 ball are Fortune Telling, Fate Manipulation and Karma manipulation.

We’ve already talked about Aki being able to read the mind of the 8 Ball, which cancels this hax out. We also have to say that Fate is something that can work against both of them. However, the 8 Ball has one advantage over that and Aki.

The 8 Ball is able to change fated outcomes. The 8 Ball has been showing changing fate, heck it even decides the fate of certain objects or people. It can even make curtain events happen to help or hinder others.

Not to mention it’s Karma Manipulation. Depending on the answer it provides, it can lead to good or bad happening. While this could help Aki, it can also be a big problem for him. To understand this part more, we’ll have to look at weapons and equipment. 

While both have some neat haxes, and even some that cancel out. The 8 Ball has more reliable haxes that could give it the win. The 8 Ball wins this one as well.

Weapons and Equipment

To have a more in depth look at what the 8 Ball can do with its Fate and Karma Manipulation, we have to look at the Encounter Cards. 

Here we can see it instantly teleport people to good and bad places, allow people to move more, to roll again, get treasure and even move the Gadworm Dragon. It uses its Fate and Karma Manipulation in these ways are constituent as well. In the 2001 board game, it can make people do things with fortune and fate, with it even having negative outcomes for not doing it. 

The Game Board is also useful here. It can steal items, grant immunities, cause others to draw fortune/fate cards. The Magic 8 Ball Cards can also be used to give the effects of something to someone else. This could be a direct counter to Akinator trying to read the 8 Ball’s mind.

Meanwhile looking at Akinator's equipment, it pales in comparison. The website or the phone is useless here. The lamp can only be used if you lie and cheat. The trap can only be used if you lie or cheat. The only real thing that could offer some use is his outfits; namely the Cutlass and Knight armour, but even then those can be stolen through many different means by the 8 Ball. 

The 8 Ball just has far better and way more useful traps as its disposal. That’s not even talking about its support, which is something that Akinator lakes The Great 8 Potentate can do things like avoid their own fate, give out fates to others. The only chance is if Akinator becomes the next Great 8 Potentate, which can be done with the game board, but that requires it to be in the fate section of the game and getting lucky (Lucky…) enough to get that chance. The 8 Ball wins this category with ease.

Conclusion

Akinator

Advantages:

• + Could seal the 8 Ball in the lamp, which would be a win…

• + Could become the Great 8 Potentate, which would let them bypass the Fate and Karma Manip…

• + Could break the 8 Ball at normal size.

• + Is faster then a stationary item.

• + Could think faster of the 8 Ball.

• = Mind Reading can cancel out fortune telling, evening the playing field.

• = Heat Manipulation could prevent his lamp from getting stolen.

Disadvantages:

• -…that requires them to cheat on the genie’s questions 

• -…would require them to be lucky enough to get the chance. Even then, it could be taken by someone else later.

• - Not faster than a car

• - Won’t be able to break the 8 Ball when it becomes the size of a castle.

• - Has no counters towards Fate and Karma Manipulation.

• - No real counters to the Great 8 Potentate other then becoming it

• - Had not many helpful items.

• - Lacked any support.

Magic 8 Ball

Advantages:

• +Is way tougher and stronger when the size of a castle

• + Is faster than Akinator with its car.

• + Fate and Karma Manipulation could guarantee a win

• + Its weapons were far superior then anything Aki has.

• + The Great 8 Potentate is a great support.

• + Could possibly counter Mind Reading.

• + Can steal Akinator's equipment, other than the lamp.

• + Most likely wouldn’t meet the criteria to get sealed in the lamp.

• = Mind Reading can cancel out fortune telling, evening the playing field.

• = Heat Manipulation could prevent his lamp from getting stolen.

Disadvantages:

• - Could be broken at normal size.

• - Is sometimes stationary.

• - Aki could become the Great 8 Potentate if he’s lucky enough.

• - Has no counters to being sealed inside of the lamp if it is pulled off.

Akinator's best chance of winning is by becoming the Great 8 Potentate, which would require him to be lucky enough and the Magic 8 Ball could possibly use Fate and karma manipulation to prevent this from happening. The 8 Ball surprisingly had everything it needed to beat Akinator. (Funny quip here)

The Winner is Magic 8 ball

(Did 8 Ball just just hulkzilla Akinator?)

Akinator Votes: No one :(, Evil Shaggy

The Magic 8 Ball Votes: Lucky, THE, Eastbound, Shaggy, Fish Jr

Post Blog Notes

Dude, this was such a stupid thing that I decided to do in like 2 days (funnily enough, around the same time as Doodler vs Q*Bert) I went into this not expecting too much, but was actually pretty surprised by what I found, for both even. I didn’t know Akinator had stuff like an actual backstory nor did I know about the 8 Ball’s history and what hacky shenanigans it got into over the decades. I also want to thank y’all for reading this blog, it’s just such a random and funny one to do.

Btw I dont hate Akinator, I just needed a bit to make this blog interesting, but I hope you enjoyed this at least.

Also hope yall love my hate comments 

Dude, something about this mu to me is so cool. Something about it itches my brain (or is it scratch my brain?). It's someone who asks you questions vs something that gets asked questions. Idk, it's just fun to me.

Blog Credits

Main Researchers: Luckthe_pending

Other researchers: no one else :( (btw, I wanted to try and help on this, but Lucky literally finished everything before I could) (dude, i did all of it in a day)

Custom Assets: Respective Final Thoughts images

Debaters: Lucky, THE, Tree, Fish Jr., Shaggy

🐱 Car