Cootie Catcher

The cootie catcher transition sequence in Misfortune Teller.

Muffy's version of the cootie catcher.

Cootie Catcher is a fortune-telling game made from paper in tetrahedron folds that Prunella received from her sister Rubella for her 9 1/2 birthday. The exterior diamonds come in four colored-dots: red, yellow, green, and blue. The interior triangles are numbers 1-8. The objective is for the player to pick a color, and pick two numbers, and Prunella would reveal a fortune such as "yes", "it is certain", etc. Rubella claims that whoever doesn't listen to the cootie catcher will be cursed, much to everyone's annoyances. Muffy then makes her own cootie catcher that is blue with feathers and strings, and that powder would gush out once opened, and was referred to as the "Deluxe Crosswire Platinum Series Cootie Catcher". When Prunella accidentally left her cootie catcher in one of the pockets of the clothes she previously wore, the colors bled and it ended up being ruined when it was washed in the washing machine. Arthur and his friends decide the cootie catcher ruins their fun, and so Prunella finally discards it. Prunella's cootie catcher first appeared in Misfortune Teller, but made some cameos in later seasons.

Instructions for making a Cootie Catcher can be found at the end of Arthur and the Cootie-Catcher and it can be also be found on the cartoon's official website It can be either customized or random and can be printed out, cut, and folded in the following directions. Characters in the green are Muffy, Binky, and Pal; the blue are Arthur, Fern, and D.W.; characters in the red are the Brain, Emily, and Tommy and Timmy Tibble; and characters in the yellow are Prunella, Buster, and Francine.