Google Celebrates April Fool’s Day

Continuing with its tradition of playing pranks on its users Google kicked off this year’s April Fool’s Day celebration with a set of innovative prank. While the first is termed as the Pokemon challenge, the second is called Gmail Selfies.

The Pokemon Challenge from Google

Through its LatLong blog, Google announced on Monday that it has updated its Google Maps on Android and iPhone platforms. This update allows users to go around and catch Pokemon from around the world and is a part of their process for recruiting a person to the position of Pokemon Master. In order to apply for the post, interested candidates  have to capture all the 150 Pokemon that are a part of the game. Also, to play the game users will have to update their Google Map apps on their phone and then tap on the search bar that is present on the top of the screen. When this is done, a small Pokeball icon will appear, and after clicking that icon, users can begin the game. Further, users can also view the profile of each Pokemon that they catch as well. The last day to apply for this challenge is April 2, 2014.

Additionally, Google has stated that the hiring committee themselves have to determine who can be the best judge of the challenge.  So though the game is very much real, the position for Pokemon master at Google is definitely not!

Gmail Selfie trend from Google

Another prank for April Fool’s Day by Google is the selfie updates for Gmail inbox. With this Google, allows users to upload their selfies as their Gmail inbox theme and even share it with others.  Google has termed this as sharable selfies. Taking the joke ahead, Google is taking credit for starting the entire trend. Through this users can either upload their own selfies, send it to their friends and even use the top trending selfies as their theme.

As the pioneering platform for selfies, Gmail is committed to being at the forefront of innovation in the selfie space,” Google says in a satirical blog post. “And we think it’s a tragedy that your handsome hair, luscious lashes and beautiful brows have been trapped in your own inbox. Until now, that is.

Over the last few years, Google has had a long standing tradition of playing April Fool jokes on its users and many departments of the company even come with their own set of jokes as well.

Five Fun Facts About April Fools Day!

1. As a part of their prank, Expedia a travel website offered exclusive tickets to mars for its users in 2009.
2. Though the actual origin of April Fool’s Day is not clear, it is mentioned in literature that goes back to 1392.
3. According to the museum of Hoaxes, ”Top 100 April fool’s Day Hoaxes of All Time”, was awarded to BBC who convinced their listeners that it was possible to harvest spaghetti!
4. April Fool’s Day celebration in England and France last only during the morning.
5. Google has a consistent track record of playing April Fool pranks. From changing its name to Topeks in 2009 to announcing the closure of YouTube in 2013, the list of pranks played by the organisation is highly comprehensive.