Description: Zoltar Speaks fortune teller, Characters Unlimited. Note Zoltar is not the same as the 1969 Prophetron Zoltan fortune teller.

Olaf Stanton started making animatronics 35 years ago and figured out, after the hit Tom Hanks movie "Big" in 1988, that the "Zoltar" name was not trademarked. Trying to take advantage of the Zoltar fortune teller used in the movie "Big", this more recent fortune teller uses the "Zoltar" name. But unfortunately the Olaf Stanton/Characters Unlimited version of Zoltar has nothing to do with the movie version, which is a one-of-a-kind (the movie version of Zoltar was a mix of a skill game and a fortune teller.) Instead the new Zoltar is more like a traditional fortune teller with head, eye and mouth movement, and a hand that waves over a crystal ball, and dispenses a fortune card. There is also optional breathing animatronics too. Fortune tellers like this have been around for 100 years. But the Characters Unlimited version does add vocals, unlike the 1920s to 1950s fortune tellers. Best I can tell is the Olaf version started manufacture of his Zoltar in the mid 1990s. Approximately 4000+ Zoltars have been made.

Zoltar dispenses fortune tickets and has mechanical animation (moving eyes, jaw, arm, head). Also speaks with 16 different phrases (and can be ordered in different languages), and the crystal ball lights. Has an attract mode speech box that says four different phrases, one every 30 seconds (this has a separate volume control from the game sound). Comes in three different sizes (Premium 33" wide, Standard 27" wide, Economy 24" wide). The economy model does not come with coin gear and does not have all the body movement of the Premium and Standard models (Economy basically just talks with eye movement and dispenses a fortune card). Also the economy model is designed for free play (but coin gear is available for an additional charge on the economy model). All models have other options available for more money like a breathing chest or a microphone so a remote operator can talk to patrons through Zoltar (voice is pitch altered). There is also a "vintage" version of Zoltar too where the Zoltar character is dressed differently, more like the Zoltar in the movie Big, and the cabinet is painted to look more "vintage."

Zoltar uses an EM2218c QuikWave sound repeater by Eletech for the audio. The older Zoltars used a 32mb compact flash card (up to 2gb Fat format) for the digitized fortunes. This sound repeater needs 6 to 12vdc to operate, and can used up to 511 sound files. The em2218c has a script mode and eight direct switches and RS232 serial port, making it ideal for this type of application. It appears newer models use a SD card instead of a compact flash card. Specs for this sound repeater are available here. The sound files are .WAV format (though the file names do not end in .wav), with UNsigned mono 8-bit PCM format at 11025hz sample rate (though sample rates 8, 11, 16 or 22 KHz are supported.) The fortunes are all in the 20 to 30 second length range. Upon power-on, the sound box plays the .001 fortune first upon coin-up, followed by .002 for the next coin play, and so on. There are a total of sixteen (.001 to .016) fortune WAV files. After Zoltar16.016 is played, the sound repeater wraps back around to play WAV file Zoltar01.001. If you want to add your own fortunes, this is easy to do. But you must use the above WAV format and name your WAV files correctly. You can here hear the orignal Zoltar01.001 fortune which was recorded by a voice and narrator actor, Josh Harrison of Maine.

Characters Unlimited generally speaking follows Dr. Gene Poor's (Bowling Green University) 10 Laws of Animatronics. Dr. Poor's publishing on this subject is pretty intense, and is generally the rules of the animatronics industry.

If you have a Zoltar Speaks fortune teller for sale please contact me at cfh@provide.net