Paper fortune teller
origami shape with four pockets, used in children's games
A fortune teller is a form of origami used in children's games. Parts of the fortune teller are labelled with colors or numbers that serve as options for a player to choose from, and on the inside are eight flaps, each concealing a message. The person operating the fortune teller manipulates the device based on the choices made by the player, and finally one of the hidden messages is revealed. These messages may purport to answer questions (hence the name), or they may be activities that the player must perform.
The same shape may also be used as pincers or as a salt cellar. Another name for it is a cootie catcher; it has many other names.
Construction
A paper fortune teller may be constructed by the steps shown in the illustration below:
The corners of a sheet of paper are folded up to meet the opposite sides and (if the paper is not already square) the top is cut off, making a square sheet with diagonal creases.
The four corners of the square are folded into the center, forming a shape known in origami terminology as a blintz base or cushion fold. The resulting smaller square is turned over, and the four corners are folded in a second time.
All four corners are folded up so that the points meet in the middle, and the pockets of paper in each of the four corners are pulled away from the center.
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This entry incorporates text from “Paper fortune teller” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.