I only learned of the existence of the Magic 8 Ball Pocket Slider candy and Magic Date Ball Pocket Slider thanks to the Book of Joe.

It seems Joe discovered the watermelon flavored Date Ball Pocket Slider in february of 2006 at his local 7-11 convenience store.

Here’s what he had to say:

[I]t’s a triumph of design and function.

In a pocket–sized package (it measures

…

Despite the eBay logo on the top of this small Magic 8 Ball, and the fact that I actually purchased it on eBay, I honestly don’t believe it was ordered by the company itself.  Rather I have a feeling a third party, though possibly an employee or seller, had these custom eBay Magic 8 Balls made.

I’ve been around eBay since it’s inception in 1995 as a buyer,…

On November 1, 2004 Network Appliance, Inc. announced that they had “attained Gold Certified status in the Microsoft Partner Program with a competency in Advanced Infrastructure Solutions recognizing NetApp expertise and total impact in the technology marketplace.”  If you think that’s a mouthful, go take a gander at the full press release.

This is only relevant for our purposes here because they…

1999 is a year that lives in infamy for many men my age.  Aside frmo the end of the millenium and Y2K fears we also had the release of Star Wars: Episode 1: The Phantom Menace.  Some loved it, many hated it, but “everyone” saw it and none could avoid the merchandising blitz.

Tricon Global Restaurants expanded the “Happy Meal” concept to all three of its restaurant chains with…

While there are few companies that actually manufacture custom Magic 8 Balls there are literally hundreds of different promotional product companies offering them.  This means that there have been thousands, if not millions, of sample magic 8 balls sent out into the world.  Many of these were completely blank with just standard promotional answers.

Still, despite their lack of 8 or any other markings, each of these is still…