Play a Paper Fortune Teller Online
The only paper fortune teller you can play online in your browser — no printing, no folding, free.
You’re the fortune teller — set it up first
Choose four colors and write the eight hidden fortunes. When you’re done, grab a friend and read their fortune — they start by picking one of your colors.
Choose 4 Colors
These are the four colors you'll pick from when you play. To swap a color, unselect it first, then pick a new one.
Write 8 Fortunes
Hidden under the numbered flaps (1-8) — revealed as you play.
Need ideas? Pick a theme to fill all 8 flaps instantly.
How to Play
A paper fortune teller is a folded square of paper with four colors on the outside, the numbers 1 through 8 on the inner flaps, and a hidden fortune written under each numbered flap. It is also called a cootie catcher in the United States, a chatterbox in the United Kingdom and Australia, and a paper fortune teller more generally.
This online version follows the same moves as the paper game. You start with the fortune teller pinched shut, showing its four colored faces. You pick a color, and the fortune teller opens and closes once for every letter in that color's name. Whichever set of four numbers is showing at the end, you pick one of them, and the fortune teller opens and closes that many more times. You pick a number from the newly showing set, count it out again, then pick a final number, and that flap lifts to show the fortune written underneath it.
Only four of the eight numbers are visible at a time, because a real fortune teller can only be pinched open along one of two diagonals. Every open-and-close swaps which set of four numbers you can see, which is exactly what this online version does.
Playing online is free and requires no account, no email address, and no printer. You can write your own eight fortunes before you start, or choose the demo option to play immediately with a ready-made set. Nothing you type is saved to a server; the fortunes exist only in your browser while you play.
Make Your Own to Play
Write one fortune for each of the eight numbered flaps and pick four colors for the outer squares. Short fortunes of about 40 to 80 characters read best. If you want ideas, browse our 48 cootie catcher fortune ideas for parties, classrooms, and sleepovers, or read how to fold a paper fortune teller if you want to make a physical one too.
When you want a paper copy, the fortune teller maker turns the same colors and fortunes into a print-ready 300 DPI PDF for $0.99, and a free blank template is available if you prefer to handwrite the fortunes yourself.