Ouija vs. Planchette — What's the Difference?

The ouija ( WEE-jə, jee), also known as a spirit board or talking board, is a flat board marked with the letters of the alphabet, the numbers 0–9, the words "yes", "no", occasionally "hello" and "goodbye", along with various symbols and graphics. It uses a planchette (small heart-shaped piece of wood or plastic) as a movable indicator to spell out messages during a séance.

A planchette ( or ), from the French for "little plank", is a small, usually heart-shaped flat piece of wood equipped with two wheeled casters and a pencil-holding aperture pointing downwards, used to facilitate automatic writing. The use of planchettes to produce mysterious written messages gave rise to the belief that the devices foster communication with spirits as a form of mediumship.

Alternative form of Ouija

A small board supported on castors, typically heart-shaped and fitted with a vertical pencil, used for automatic writing and in seances

A board with the alphabet on it; used with a planchette to spell out supernatural messages

A small triangular board supported by two casters and a vertical pencil that, when lightly touched by the fingertips, is said to spell out subconscious or supernatural messages.

A small plank.

(spiritualism) A type of Ouija board. (A small tablet of wood supported on casters and having a pencil attached. The characters produced by the pencil on paper, while the hand rests on the instrument and it is allowed to move, are sometimes interpreted as of oracular or supernatural import.)

A plane table.

One of the round colored dots pressed into paper money, used to distinguish authentic currency from counterfeit currency.

A circumferentor. See Circumferentor.

A small tablet of wood supported on casters and having a pencil attached. The characters produced by the pencil on paper, while the hand rests on the instrument and it is allowed to move, are sometimes translated as of oracular or supernatural import.

A triangular board supported on casters; when lightly touched with the fingertips it is supposed to spell out supernatural (or unconscious) messages