Every house in America has a Mystic 8 Ball - or so we're led to believe, based on its constant appearances on TV. This proliferation must mean that it truly is magic. It cannot be just a plastic polyhedron, emblazoned with all-encompassing answers, which rights itself in a pool of liquid trapped in a black bubble. There's sumthin’ strange in them there plastic parts...

All you do is ask the Mystic 8 Ball a question, shake it a bit and then look to the porthole in its base for a timely and reasonable answer. Of course, the question has to be a tentative prediction of potential future happenings. 'Will that guy in the cubicle opposite me ever get rid of those IRRITATING motivational posters?' and 'can it be true that despite my promising never, ever to go to a professional lacrosse game again, I will get a season ticket next year?' are good examples of predictions to test your 8 Ball. Ask it who won the Best Actor Oscar in 1972*, or the place and time of Sue Barker's only Grand Slam tennis title**, and you're in for a long wait.

Leave one of these on your desk and people are virtually guaranteed to come and shake it. It also doubles as a paperweight. And, it looks like a giant 8 ball - which is cool because, well, it just is. So as well as mapping out your life and making vital decisions for you, the Mystic 8 Ball is an oversized novelty knick-knack. How much more do you want for your money?

* Marlon Brando for The Godfather
** Roland Garros (the French Open), 1976