Ouija comes from the French word 'Oui' and the German word 'Ja' wich both means yes.
It's usually a smooth wooden board with the letters of the alphabet painted on it. Placed on this board is a heartshaped plank.
The players put one finger on this pointer, that moves apperently by itself or by the dead across the board and spells out the answers to the asked questions.

The Ouija-board was never intented to by used for getting in contact with the dead. Although the ancient Egyptians had a similar mechanism that they used to get in contact with their ancestors. Nowadays it's sold as a party-game.
In 1898, Will and Isaac Fuld from Baltimore, Maryland started the production of the Ouija. In 1966, the rights of the board were sold to the american game-manufacturer Parker Brother. About 25 million Ouija-boards have been sold in America and Europe.

As for the meaning of the Ouija-board it's placed in the category 'easy to imitate Paranormal phenomenons' . And even without fraud there are other explanations.
James Randi, illusionist who is very sceptic about the Paranormal, suggest that natural and uncontroleble muscle movements are responsible for the moving of the pointer across the board and the messages that the board receives come from the users subconsciousness. But for many researchers it's doubtful that these light muscle-movements can move a hand over the board and spell out connected sentences.

Andrew Boyd, writer and researcher, lead one of the biggest research about the Occult. His conclusion is that some people who get involved with the Occult with it's bad definitions, confusing and often contradictory view of reality, can lose themselves in a supernatural domain of twillight's myths, magic and morbid. They undermine their psychical health.

For many the obsession of the Occult goes beyond playing with the Ouija-board. It's a way of life or an profesion -a religion with as much value for the participators as Christianity or the Islam.