April Fools Pranks

Google Pranks: A History Of The Companies April Fool’s Day Jokes

Google has a history of pulling off various April Fools day pranks. We have a list dating back to 2000 which features various Google pranks pulled on unsuspecting site visitors. From toilet internet services to jobs on the moon, here are some of our favorite classic Google pranks.

MentalPlex (2000): Just sit in front of your computer and Google will scan your brainwave activity, your past browser history and your mouse movements to figure out where you want to go.

Pigeon Based Ranking System (2002): Google announces that they use pigeons to peck away randomly on their computers to find websites. They claim the pigeons are able to grab information at random, allowing for a more meshed web. The idea behind the algorithm was well thought out for the prank.



Google “Moon” Jobs (2004): This April Fool’s Day joke was part of the companies “Google Copernicus Hosting Environment and Experiment in Search Engineering (G.C.H.E.E.S.E.)” Here’s what the job posting said:

Brain Drink That Makes You Think Faster (2005): If Coca-Cola announced this product the speculation would fly, but leave it to Google to reel in a bunch of onlookers. Our favorite part? Google claims the human DNA code is read with a special sensor on the lip of the bottle. According to Google our DNA is just 3 Gigabytes in size.

Google Contextual Dating (2006): Here’s a new way to date, Contextually! If you prefer speed dating contextually Google was also offering the ability to send a mass upload file to their servers. Sure the idea was a bit silly but since 2006 online dating has exploded, albeit not contextually.

Google Toilet Internet Service Provider (TiSP) (2007): Flush your toilet to send your next Gmail message to your friends, family and co-workers, It was the dumbest of the April Fool’s pranks, but I had at least two or three friends email me and ask how I thought it worked.

Google Worldwide Rickrolling + Other Pranks (2008): This is another odd option from Google, they rickrolled the world, including all videos on YouTube. Google also announced gDay, a product that could add Adsense to conversations. They also rolled out a service that could “search pages a day before they’re created.” Basically in 2008 Google went a little prank crazy.

Google Chrome 3D Browser (2009): Google pulled 17 pranks in 2009, but the best by far was their Google Chrome 3D Browser. Basically it blurred everything as if you were watching 3D movies without the glasses.

Now remember, tomorrow is April Fool’s day and given Google’s history of pranking the public, you’ll probably want to be on the lookout.

Is there another Google Prank you prefer over those we’ve listed? Feel free to share your favorites.