When thinking about April 1st being the one day of the year where people are ok with pulling pranks on each other, my mind is split. I can’t seem to decide whether it’s the dumbest thing ever or if it’s a wonderful and fun idea for the world to share.
I feel like it can be a bit of both and even though I’m personally not a big contributor to the annual tradition, I can appreciate the gesture.
In honor of April Fool’s, I wanted to share with you some of the better pranks from around the world. Some are casino related while others are not but they are all good fun and after all, isn’t that what April Fool’s Day is all about?
Enjoy!
What a spectacular event
1) Seahorse Racing
Let’s start off with one of my favorites. In 2017, a sports betting operator announced that they would introduce the world’s first seahorse race. They made a promise to “ take sports betting and entertainment to new depths with all the excitement of horse racing – but underwater.” That sounds very interesting, doesn’t it?
This new and exciting sporting event had 5 years of research behind it and with the Grand National coming up, it was believed that seahorse racing would one day reach the same level of popularity.
One of the Most Competitive Species on the Planet
A spokesperson for the company was quoted saying “ It’s been an amazing journey and we’ve learned that seahorse behavior mirrors that of their above-water equine counterparts. Despite initial challenges with training we’ve found them to be one of the most competitive species on the planet. We think our customers will love it.”
With promises of them being filmed at specially designed aquariums, the highly competitive races would be streamed on the platforms for players to bet and watch.
The whole thing turned out to be a prank and the company released a tweet about it later in the day, admitting to it being fake. It’s creativity at its finest and I think it was a genius idea that got people talking.
Well done, Paddy Power!
Who knew cats played Bingo
2) Bingo For Cats
Mecca Bingo sent out a tweet in 2015 promoting their brand new Mecca Cat Club, which focused on cats that loved to play Bingo. The image above was seemingly meant to prove that cats know how to play.
The tagline “ I’m Feline Lucky “ was used and I guess Mecca thought it was clever. However, it only resulted in 4 re-tweets and one single like. Considering Bingo had been trying to get away from the stereotype of being a game for older women living alone, just like a “crazy cat lady“, it didn’t quite get the traction Mecca Bingo wanted.
Lesson learned? You would think so but apparently they tried it again 6 years later, naming it Pet Bingo. The results? Just like you could imagine, it was just as bad.
The only referee you can trust
3) RoboRef – Making the Right Decision Every Single Time
Being a referee in any sport is a very thankless job and it’s not a secret that sports fans hate them. It doesn’t really matter what they do because one side of the fans will always think they’re wrong.
In 2014, Betfair decided to put an end to it all by introducing “RoboRef”, who had a 360 degree vision.
Together with a former player and referee from the English Premier League, Betfair produced a video explaining how a groundbreaking new technology would allow RoboRef to make the right decision every single time.
The new technology was called CARDS, an acronym for Calibrated Animatronic Refereeing Decision. Perhaps this should’ve been a clue that it was a joke but there were definitely fans out there believing that they would finally get a referee that knew how to call a game.
People picking pasta in 1957
4) – How to Grow Your Own Spaghetti
Perhaps the best April Fool’s prank of all was created all the way back in 1957. It was the British TV-channel BBC that aired a segment from a small town in Switzerland, close to the Italian border.
Showing people picking spaghetti from both trees and bushes, before eating a lovely pasta dish at home caught everyone’s attention. Back then, the Brits were not too familiar with spaghetti. The segment led to the BBC being bombarded with questions from people wondering how they could grow spaghetti in their own gardens.
This is an incredible story and the fact that it was done in 1957 makes it even better.
A genius solution
5) Do It Yourself Color TV
Just like the spaghetti story, this one is another all-time favorite. Swedish television pulled off a great prank in 1962. At the time, the only TV available was shown in black and white. The Swedish channel brought in a tech expert on screen, explaining to people how they could get color TV.
It was a simple little trick as all they had to do was to cover the TV in nylon stockings and it would turn it into a color TV. Of course, there were a lot of people who fell for the prank and believe it or not, the sale of nylon stockings sky-rocketed. Nice one!
Finally a burger for handed people
6) The Left-Handed Whopper
In 1998, Burger King pulled off an amazing prank when they ran an advertisement in the USA Today newspaper. The ad introduced a brand new burger, called the “Left-handed Whopper”.
What was so original with this burger was the fact that it was specifically designed for left-handed people. Burger King had made sure to rotate all condiments exactly 180 degrees in order to work better for those who were left-handed.
It wasn’t until the next day that Burger King came out with a statement, revealing it was all an April Fool’s prank. Funny enough, they said that Burger King restaurants across the country had thousands of customers requesting the Left-handed Whopper.
Amazing, right?
Please, Prove Me Wrong!
Some of the pranks mentioned above are hard to beat and I feel like we haven’t really seen anything good for a while. I’m sure I’m forgetting something but maybe that’s a sign of what I just said.
Hopefully someone will do something really creative this year but I won’t exactly be holding my breath. I would love it if I was proven wrong so let’s see!
I would love to hear about your favorite April Fool’s prank so feel free to share in the comments below.
Have a wonderful April Fool’s Day to you all!
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