Zoltar Speaks machine
E1007942
The Zoltar Speaks machine is the fortune-telling arcade automaton in the film "Big" that magically grants Josh Baskin's wish to become an adult.
All labels observed (3)
| Label | Occurrences |
|---|---|
| Zoltar Speaks machine canonical | 4 |
| Zoltar Speaks | 1 |
| Zoltar fortune teller machine | 1 |
How this entity was disambiguated
This entity first appeared as the object of triple T12893259 — resolving that mention is where its identity was fixed. The disambiguator weighed these candidate entities and picked the highlighted one (or “None”, minting a new entity). This is how homonymy is resolved: the same surface form can point to different entities.
NED1
Entity disambiguation (via context triple)
gpt-5-mini-2025-08-07
Target entity: Zoltar Speaks machine Context triple: [David Moscow as young Josh Baskin, wishMadeAt, Zoltar Speaks machine]
-
A.
The Eye of Zoltar
The Eye of Zoltar is a comic fantasy novel by Jasper Fforde, part of his young adult Chronicles of Kazam series featuring magical misadventures in an alternate modern Britain.
-
B.
The Crystal Ball
The Crystal Ball is a 1902 Pre-Raphaelite-style painting by John William Waterhouse depicting a mysterious woman gazing into a crystal sphere, often interpreted as exploring themes of magic and fate.
-
C.
Mystic Seer machine
The Mystic Seer machine is the fortune-telling napkin dispenser featured in the Twilight Zone episode "Nick of Time," whose cryptic answers fuel the characters’ growing superstition and paranoia.
-
D.
Crystal Ball
"Crystal Ball" is a song by the English rock band Keane, known for its emotive lyrics and piano-driven alternative rock sound.
-
E.
Crystal Ball
"Crystal Ball" is a 1976 rock album by the American band Styx, marking a transition toward the more polished, arena-rock sound that would define their later success.
- F. None of above. chosen
- G. Unsure - the case is ambiguous/there is not enough information to decide.
NED2
Entity disambiguation (via description)
gpt-5-mini-2025-08-07
Target entity: Zoltar Speaks machine Target entity description: The Zoltar Speaks machine is the fortune-telling arcade automaton in the film "Big" that magically grants Josh Baskin's wish to become an adult.
-
A.
The Eye of Zoltar
The Eye of Zoltar is a comic fantasy novel by Jasper Fforde, part of his young adult Chronicles of Kazam series featuring magical misadventures in an alternate modern Britain.
-
B.
The Crystal Ball
The Crystal Ball is a 1902 Pre-Raphaelite-style painting by John William Waterhouse depicting a mysterious woman gazing into a crystal sphere, often interpreted as exploring themes of magic and fate.
-
C.
Mystic Seer machine
The Mystic Seer machine is the fortune-telling napkin dispenser featured in the Twilight Zone episode "Nick of Time," whose cryptic answers fuel the characters’ growing superstition and paranoia.
-
D.
Crystal Ball
"Crystal Ball" is a song by the English rock band Keane, known for its emotive lyrics and piano-driven alternative rock sound.
-
E.
Crystal Ball
"Crystal Ball" is a 1976 rock album by the American band Styx, marking a transition toward the more polished, arena-rock sound that would define their later success.
- F. None of above. chosen
Statements (47)
| Predicate | Object |
|---|---|
| instanceOf |
arcade automaton
ⓘ
fictional object ⓘ fortune-telling machine ⓘ |
| appearsIn | Big ⓘ |
| associatedTheme |
be careful what you wish for
ⓘ
childhood vs adulthood ⓘ |
| associatedWithActor |
David Moscow
ⓘ
Tom Hanks ⓘ |
| countryOfOriginOfWorkAppearsIn |
United States
ⓘ
linked to:
United States of America
|
| creatorOfWorkAppearsIn | Penny Marshall ⓘ |
| culturalImpact |
iconic prop from the film Big
ⓘ
widely recognized symbol of wish fulfillment in popular culture ⓘ |
| fictionalStatus | supernatural object ⓘ |
| fictionalUniverse | Big film universe ⓘ |
| genreOfWorkAppearsIn | fantasy comedy ⓘ |
| grantsWishCondition |
user must insert a coin
ⓘ
user must make a wish ⓘ |
| grantsWishEffect |
later transforms Josh Baskin back into a child
ⓘ
transforms Josh Baskin into an adult ⓘ |
| grantsWishToCharacter | Josh Baskin ⓘ |
| hasCatchphrase |
Zoltar Speaks
ⓘ
linked to:
Zoltar Speaks machine
|
| hasDepiction |
glass-fronted case with animatronic fortune teller
ⓘ
illuminated sign reading Zoltar Speaks ⓘ red and gold cabinet ⓘ |
| hasFunctionInStory |
fortune telling
ⓘ
granting wishes ⓘ |
| hasGenreElement |
magic realism
ⓘ
supernatural wish-granting device trope ⓘ |
| hasProperty |
still functions despite being unplugged
ⓘ
unplugged when found by Josh Baskin ⓘ |
| inspired |
merchandise based on Big
ⓘ
real-world replica arcade machines ⓘ |
| languageOfSignage | English ⓘ |
| medium | film ⓘ |
| narrativeRole |
magical device
ⓘ
plot catalyst ⓘ |
| operatesBy |
animatronic figure speaking a fortune
ⓘ
dispensing a fortune card ⓘ |
| portrayedAs | coin-operated fortune-telling arcade machine ⓘ |
| propType | mechanical prop ⓘ |
| requires |
coin
ⓘ
inserting a coin to operate ⓘ |
| settingInWork |
Pier amusement park
ⓘ
carnival ⓘ |
| usedFor | advancing coming-of-age narrative in Big ⓘ |
| wishGranted | to become big ⓘ |
| yearOfWorkAppearsInRelease | 1988 ⓘ |
How these facts were elicited
The pipeline generated the facts above by prompting gpt-5.1 with this entity's name + description and the instruction below.
Instruction
You are a knowledge base construction expert. Given a subject entity and a description of it, return factual statements that you know for the subject as a JSON list of dictionaries(triples), where keys must be "subject", "predicate" and "object". The number of facts may be very high, between 25 to 50 or more, for very popular subjects. For less popular subjects, the number of facts can be very low, like 5 or 10. # Requirements - If you don't know the subject at all, return an empty list. - If the subject is not a named entity, return an empty list. - Include at least one triple where predicate is "instanceOf". - Do not get too wordy. - Separate several objects into multiple triples with one object.
Input
Subject: Zoltar Speaks machine Description of subject: The Zoltar Speaks machine is the fortune-telling arcade automaton in the film "Big" that magically grants Josh Baskin's wish to become an adult.
Referenced by (6)
Full triples — surface form annotated when it differs from this entity's canonical label.
linked to: Zoltar Speaks machine
linked to: Zoltar Speaks machine