So far I found only promobrands.com doing this. Anyone aware of anyone else doing it?

Edit: they won't customize the answers, so there's no point. Oh well. Anyone else?

Well, there is always this...

There are a pile of flash, java, etc versions. I want to share my bitterness here by giving everyone a magic 8 ball with custom answers. I don't have the cash for 2500 balls, nor do I have 2500 coworkers, so at the moment I'm sort of screwed.

I'm sure one of the answers you would like to see would be 'sure, fine, whatever'

It would be a fine answer, but not nearly as bitter as would be useful for this case.

Hmm... There was a Simpsons version by Sababa Toys. Can't find any other custom phrases though.

edit: Here's somebody who modified one neatly is this feasible for you?

http://8ball.ofb.net/howto.html

Gareth

Modifying one would be ok, but I want a few of them, so I suspect I'm sad. I did find that...

I agree, actually.
I work in Technical support, and If it wqere possible, I'd get a custom one for everyone in my department (~15), with answers like:
Reboot
Call Your Vendor
It's A Feature
You're On NoServ

..Would just be great.
Me.

mike, put me down for some of them

I'm more bitter than most people I work with, I just want to "share"

One for Tony:

"Read the FAQ"
"Read the FAQ"
"Read the FAQ"
"Read the FAQ"
...

Well, never doubt the insanity of the anti-social hermit. I submitted a request for quote today - to find out exactly how expensive it would be to create a minimum run of these guys. They have both a 4" and a 2.75" version. It would depend on the price per unit, of course, if this can actually happen. But, if you never ask...

Hmmm... Intriguing...

I was expecting an answer that would immediately eliminate this as a possibility. The quote I received back though is almost do-able. They are allowing a minimum order of 1000 units at a lower cost per unit than expected... It is almost within range, if I could justify that kind of quantity. (I mean, WTF would an anti-social hermit do with 1000 Tech Support Magic 8 Balls...)

I could almost imagine ordering a bunch of "tech support" ones, with appropriate phrases, and selling them on ebay... Hmmm...

Sell them to people here. Duh.

Talk to ThinkGeek. They might could sell 'em.

Greetings!

Nevermind. I just received an updated set of information from the manufacturer. There is an addition one time tool creation cost for making the floating answer module. When that is added in, it pushes this project outside of my random insanity budget. Worth a shot, though.

Carry on.

Just curious... what *was* the cost?

Greetings!

The first quote only had the price per unit and an undefined tool fee. I did not get the tool charge until the second email...

Price: $3.87 per 8-ball ($3,870 for 1000)
Tool charge: $2,500
End price: $6.37 per 8-ball ($6,370 for 1000)

This includes custom logo printing. (I was thinking about 1000...) I am not sure about tax and shipping from China.

Now, if I felt like reselling them, that is one thing. But I still have a day job, and that is a bit too much cash for a random amusement without knowing that there are (sufficient) buyers out there.

Greetings!

The first quote only had the price per unit and an undefined tool fee. I did not get the tool charge until the second email...

Price: $3.87 per 8-ball ($3,870 for 1000)
Tool charge: $2,500
End price: $6.37 per 8-ball ($6,370 for 1000)

This includes custom logo printing. (I was thinking about 1000...) I am not sure about tax and shipping from China.

Now, if I felt like reselling them, that is one thing. But I still have a day job, and that is a bit too much cash for a random amusement without knowing that there are (sufficient) buyers out there.

Wow.. I mean, if I could find a few grand sitting around, that *WOULD* be worth it. You could ditch them on eBay (ThinkGeek, etc) for $20 each, easily!

It's a completely untapped market of geeks out there!

Me, who's actually running it by his boss. Right now. Really.

Thinkgeek could get rid of those things in a heartbeat. Hell, i'd buy one for $12.

I'd buy one too for sure. Only 998 more to go . . .

Ditto. I'd buy one.

Everyone, sing along!

Nine hundred, ninety seven magic eight balls on the wall,
Nine hundred, ninety seven magic eight balls...
Take one down, shake it around
Nine hundred, ninety six magic eight balls on the wall.

But seriously. If I could find a way to justify it, I would. I was even thinking of random details. For example:

The logo would be "1000", maybe with a "binary" in tiny print to the bottom right for those without a clue. It would be inside a white circle in black (or null) print, just like an 8-ball...

Sayings so far would include:

1) Zero
2) One
3) Yes
4) No
5) Perhaps...
6) It depends...
7) Sure. Fine. Whatever.
8) You can never have enough disk space
9) Blue Screen Of Death
10) Network Error
11) Check for a virus
12) E-Mail is down
13) Reboot the computer
14) Plug in the computer
15) Reboot the Internet
16) /dev/null
17) Check the router
18) Blame marketing
19) This space intentionally left blank.
20) ping 127.0.0.1

It is still kind of tempting, but there is no way I can see myself selling 1000 of these things... Edit: corrected quote.

I've setup a sample i found with a magic 8-ball online a couple of years ago. I've never customized the xml file, but you could even enable custom messages based on username.

I have this running in my AIM profile, and it passes the user name into the 8ball, and emails me thier question/answer.

lt will bomb without the querystirng

An image of the logo... Assume a black background, a perfectly round circle and kerning that does not look like I threw it together in a few seconds in photoshop...

I love the "1000" idea. It actually took me A SECOND to figure out what you were talking about.

And now, I need to.. uhm.. ask a styoopid question. How many answers DOES an 8-ball support?

Me.

20. It is an icosohedron.

#7 needs to be Sure. Fine. Whatever. I would buy a couple at least. Could you have one say arp -F or arp is your friend?

Ooops. Misquoted. That would be fixed. But then, that shows another possible issue - "all your base...". I can probably drop an arp in there, sure...

I hope this can happen. I've always loved the Magic 8 Ball and have one on my desktop. I almost bought one in a store a few weeks ago. I think they are so cool

And I learned that arp is my friend the hard way.