Today is April 1, so watch your step. Pranks and jokes for April Fools' Day will soon flood the web, but if we have to talk about a major participant... all arrows point to Google. The Mountain View giant canceled its pranks in 2020 and 2021 due to the pandemic, yet it has a much more extensive history than we imagine. How about we look back at some of the best April Fools' Day pranks by Google?
2000: MentalPlex and Error Messages
The first official participation in April Fools' Day. On that occasion, the company “presented” the MentalPlex project, in which users had to project a mental image of what they wanted to search while watching an animation. The result was a series of absurd errors like “lack of conviction” or “thinking in analog.”
2002: PigeonRank
Yes, Google actually suggested that the top-secret technology behind its PageRank system was based on pigeons, PigeonRank! In theory, different groups of pigeons could be used to calculate the relative value of a page much faster than human editors or algorithms, not to mention their reputation for being incorruptible.
2005: Google Gulp
And one day, Google decided to enter the beverage market with Google Gulp. Available in four flavors (Glutamate Grape, Sugar-Free Radical, Beta Carroty, and Sero-Tonic Water), Google Gulp had the ability to increase the intelligence of the consumer/user, thus optimizing the use of the search engine. The only way to get Google Gulp was by exchanging a bottle cap, a classic Catch-22.
2009: CADIE
A research group activated CADIE, Cognitive Autoheuristic Distributed-Intelligence Entity, for the first time. What happened? Basically, the entire Google universe was exposed to CADIE, with multiple references and links across major services. CADIE even created its own web page, full of... pandas.its own web page full of... pandas.
2011: Comic Sans
After conducting a rigorous evaluation of 41 fonts (including the use of Wingdings with AdSense the previous year), Google decided to make Comic Sans the default font for all company products. As if that weren't enough, it also created an extension to change the font of other pages to Comic Sans.
2013: The Best YouTube Video
On April Fools' Day 2013, YouTube announced to the world that the experiment had come to an end. From that point on, it would no longer accept new entries, and all its resources would be focused on finding the best YouTube video. Once selected, YouTube would remove the content from the platform, returning on April 1, 2023, only to publish the winning video.
2014: Pokémon!
Sometimes jokes become reality, and long before the appearance of Pokémon Go, Google sparked the flame. With almost 20 million views, the Pokémon Challenge went viral immediately, and the public's response was conclusive: capturing Pokémon around the world using Google Maps wasn't such a crazy idea...
2018: Where's Wally?
In Google Maps! Five classic Where's Wally scenes were hidden on the platform. Upon finding him, each player received a clue to locate him in the next scene. After completing all levels, the game activated a special sixth scene on the Moon.
The Best April Fools' Day Pranks by Google: In Summary
Do you remember a particular Google prank? Am I forgetting something that can't be missed here? Leave a comment, or alternatively, you can check the complete list published on Wikipedia. Good luck!
