April Fools Day

Each year the staff at Neopets.com has a little fun by playing a prank on the general community of Neopia. Some of us know that they'll try to pull off something, and anxiously await April 1st to see what original trick they've come up with this time. However, there are the ones who aren't aware of Neopets previous history of prank pulling, and naively fall for the trick.

This page will give you some insight into the type of pranks Neopets likes to pull, so that you know what they are capable of the next time April Fools rolls around. Just so you know, they will stop at nothing to get everyone going!

2009

Neopets announced they were replacing those 'spoiled neopets' with neoplants, and everything turned green. Below is a shot of what the maps page looked like this year on April Fools Day.

There were several miscellaneous changes, including a plants neoboard, and a gaming section. Thankfully, as predicted, everything went back to normal shortly afterwards ... until next year.

2008

This year, Neopets added a 'neobuddy' feature. You'd fill out a survey, that would then match you with a randomly selected neobuddy, who would randomly popup at the most inappropriate times. The random character was always Bug Eye McGee.

Here's a picture of the infamous Bug Eye McGee. Most experienced players knew this to be another prank from the first second, but it did cause an annoyance, especially as it was on the 1st of the month, and many players were trying for their new trophies. The popups would easily appear while playing games or restocking. According to the majority, this was not one of Neopets better pranks, but not one that will be soon forgotten, either.

2007

The Battledome and all things related to it (Including the Battledome NeoBoard, all of the Battledome records, Battledome shops and the Hidden Tower, and pet lookups) were removed. Some Premium users claimed they did not notice it; they were allowed to buy weapons, but not fight.

2006

This year, Neopets decided to introduce a Neocharge. The idea behind the prank was that, with servers being jampacked, and the user strain on their website, people would be stingier with page loads and views if they knew they had to pay for certain features. Of course, the whole thing was a prank, as most of us knew from the beginning, but the newbies were in a panic.

This is what the neocharge box looked like, and it floated on the side of the screen, no matter where you went in Neopia. It added up what you supposedly owed, but if you tried to 'pay now', it wouldn't allow you to. They really did go all out though, being sure to add help pages, warnings of what would happen should you not pay your bill, such as removing items from your account or turning your painted pets back to normal colors.

Thank goodness it was just their idea of a joke ... can you imagine how quickly you'd rack up points owed?

Here is the actual news bulletin from Neopets regarding the 'neocharge' feature:

New Feature! - Most of you may have already noticed the nifty new window to the right! (If you use a theme, don't worry! It will be available in all themes early next week.) This will help us fight inflation and help reduce stress on our servers, both of which will help make Neopets more fun for everyone. :) You can click here for more information! If you find any bugs, glitches or problems, please let us know!

2005

For April Fools Day, 2005, Neopets released an update in the new features page that they were releasing 50 new pets, with a link to the pictures for all them. Some still believe this was a horrible prank, because some of the pets were adorably cute, which is probably the reason that some of them have now been released as petpets. In fact, so many complaints were received that Neopets held a poll, and the pet that won became an actual pet that can be created, the Lamameeah, which Neopets would rename the Gnorbu.

You can see mini previews of the pets below, or click here to see them all full sized.

The Pets

2004

This year, Neopets announced their newest expansion set for the TCG (trading card game). The expansion was labelled "Quiguki Armageddon", and the day was equipped with quiggle related news everywhere.

There were cards, avatars, how to draw additions, buddy icons and even a Neopedia entry. I'm sure we all love the Quiguki scenario, but there is such a thing as 'too much' ... lol. This was all to be based on a new world called Quigara.

Thankfully, the Neopedia entry was shortlived, as was the joke. Most didn't take it seriously even from the start, and expected better of TNT, who usually goes all out for April 1st, but obviously had little time on their hands this time around.

2003

For April Fools Day, 2004, Neopets released a supposed "new look", claiming that they were completely changing their style. I actually liked the fake layout, although it did seem way too "kiddish" for an all ages oriented site. Part of the new style was renaming the site to 'Neopetz', elminating neopoints, and making everything free ... including the super rare items found in the Hidden Tower.

Click here to see the April Fools Day layout!

2002

This year, some users found their safety deposit boxes emptied out, and the Pant Devil was left to take the blame.

2001

For April Fools Day, 2001, Neopets supposedly did a makeover on some of the pets, claiming that the "new and improved" versions would take the place of our beloved pets images. You'll get the joke when you see the images!

Click here to see the April Fools Day pet makeovers!

Watch out for next year! One of these years, when everyone is expecting the joke, Neopets won't pull one. That would be joke enough, with everyone questioning everything that happens for a full 24 hours. Until then, be skeptical of anything that occurs on April 1st.