Pranklopedia
Page 3
what you need
* Car signs (print the downloads for this prank found here: workman.com/ebookdownloads)
* Scissors
* Tape (optional)
what you do
THE SETUP
1 Carefully cut out the signs on that you’ve printed.
2 Hold one of the signs to the window when your family’s car is stuck in traffic or waiting at a red light. Or tape a sign to the rear bumper if it’s not raining.
PULL THE PRANK
1 Sit back and enjoy your fellow travelers’ reactions.
VERY IMPORTANT PRANKS
V.I.P.
School Traffic Jam
In 2006, 94 high school students in Austin, Minnesota, pulled an ingenious traffic-stopping prank. A busy street separates two buildings on their school’s campus. An underground tunnel also connects the buildings. At an appointed time, the students began crossing the street and then circling back through the underground tunnel and crossing the street again, so that the crosswalk was constantly filled with a stream of pedestrians (including one dressed as a cow and another as a chicken). Traffic was tied up for nearly ten minutes as cars lined up, waiting for the seemingly endless parade to … well, um … end.
the prank
Do you have a friend who always reaches for your just-opened bag of chips without asking? That person might refuse all snack offers after sticking a hand in this bag of tricks.
what you need
* A snack-size bag of chips
* A can or tub of whipped cream
* A spoon
what you do
THE SETUP
1 Open the bag of chips and empty it into a bowl. Use the spoon to fill the bag about two-thirds full with whipped cream from a tub, or use a spray can to fill it partway. Be careful not to get whipped cream near the opening, where your victim might see it.
2 Take a few chips out of the bowl and hide the rest.
PULL THE PRANK
1 Approach your victim, holding a few chips in one hand and the bag in the other. While chomping on a chip, say, “Want some?” and offer the bag. Hold the bag so it’s difficult to see inside. Your victim will jump when her hand touches the cool, moist cream instead of a crispy chip.
2 If you want to freak her out even more, try innocently asking, “Oh, no, did something die in there?”
College Pranks
If your parents haven’t already given you enough reasons for going to college, here’s a new one: College students have pulled some of the most inspired, ambitious pranks ever. Here are just a few that deserve an A+.
CARD TRICK
As far as we know, you can’t actually major in pranks at college. But if you go to the California Institute of Technology, you can come close. The school is famous for perfectly engineered pranks—which might have something to do with the fact that many students go there to study engineering. The Rose Bowl Hoax is a shining example of the students’ technical wizardry.
The Rose Bowl is a football tournament that is held every year in Pasadena, right down the road from the Caltech campus. Caltech’s team is never good enough to play in the tournament, but in 1961 a group of students hatched an idea for a prank that would finally put Caltech in the game. One of the competing teams, the Washington Huskies, was planning a series of card stunts at halftime. Everyone in the stadium would be given a colored card to hold up. Together, the cards would spell out different messages when seen from afar—or on television. A Caltech student managed to find out where the Huskies’ head cheerleader kept the master plan for the cards. While the Huskies were busy visiting Disneyland the day before the big game, Caltech got the master plan and replaced it with a new version.
The next day at halftime, the Huskies fans started doing the card stunts as a national TV audience watched. The first 11 stunts were fine. Then the insanity began: The 12th stunt was supposed to be Washington’s mascot, a husky. Instead, it was a beaver, the mascot of Caltech. Stunt 13 was supposed to spell out HUSKIES, but it read backward: SEIKSUH. The final stunt was the real winner: In gigantic letters that filled the stadium, the Huskies fans unwittingly spelled out one word: CALTECH.
LADY LIBERTY TAKES A SOAKING
During the winter of 1979, two students at the University of Wisconsin, Madison, made good on a crazy promise. Jim Mallon and Leon Varjian had announced that they would move the Statue of Liberty from New York City to Wisconsin if they got elected to student government. No one took them seriously until … one day in February, rising up out of a huge frozen lake near the campus was Lady Liberty herself. Her gigantic green head and torch-bearing hand rose high above the icy surface. Mallon and Varjian told people they’d had the statue flown in by helicopter but the cable holding it broke and Lady Liberty crashed through the ice. The real story? The pranksters had the statue built from wire, papier-mâché, and plywood and then hauled it to the lake.
Visitors gather to see the sunken lady up close.
A TOUGH PARKING SPOT
Another school that is famous for producing engineers—and pranks—is the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT for short). In 1994 a group of students managed to park a campus police car on top of a huge building known as the Great Dome. Getting a car onto the roof of any building is hard. But the Dome is 15 stories high, and the only way to get to the roof was through a small trapdoor that was always locked. How did the students do it? Instead of trying to move the whole car, they took it apart. Then they pulled pieces of the body up the side of the building using a system of rollers. It took them three tries before they succeeded. Once they got all the pieces to the top, they reassembled the car so it looked normal. They even made the lights on the roof flash and placed a dummy police officer in the driver’s seat. The finishing touch was a parking ticket on the windshield, because, of course, the car was in a no-parking zone.
The next day, news teams swarmed in and the hoax became one of the most famous college pranks of all time. A side note: The MIT pranksters were not the first to place a car on the roof of a building. In 1958 three students of engineering (what else?) at Cambridge University in England hauled an engineless van to the top of their Senate Building, all in one piece!
A parking spot with a view!
the prank
Even people who never lose their cool tend to freak out when their computer freezes. The thought of losing all that data—or not being able to play another round of Plants vs. Zombies—is just too awful. You can fool your parents or siblings into thinking the family computer is on the fritz without doing any real harm to the computer (although you may do temporary harm to your relationship). It takes some time to set up the prank, but the meltdown you get to witness will be memorable. Of course, keep in mind that it’s generally not a good idea to mess with someone else’s computer. Use your judgment, and when in doubt, check with an adult.
what you need
* Access to a family member’s computer
what you do
THE SETUP
If you have a Mac …
1 Take a screenshot of the desktop by holding “Command” and “Shift” and then hitting “3.”
2 This picture file should have been saved to your desktop.
3 Double-click on the picture you just took to open it.
4 Make the image take up the full screen by holding “Command” and “Shift” and then hitting “F.” If you’re not ready to pull the prank yet and need to exit full-screen mode, move the cursor and hit the “x” that appears at the bottom of the screen or hit the “Esc” (escape) button on your keyboard.
If you have a PC …
1 Take a screenshot of the desktop by using the “Prt Scr” (Print Screen) button on your keyboard.
2 Paste this picture into a picture-editing program, such as Paint. Save this image to your desktop.
3 Create a new folder on the desktop. Move the screenshot into this folder.
4 Double-click on the folder to open it. Then right-click on the picture,
hover over “Open With,” and select “Windows Photo Viewer.”
5 Make the image take up the full screen by either hitting the center button in the taskbar at the bottom of Windows Photo Viewer or by hitting “F11” on your keyboard. If you’re not ready to pull the prank yet and need to exit full-screen mode, hit the “Esc” (Escape) button on your keyboard.
PULL THE PRANK
1 Now your victim’s computer should look normal, but because the icons and the taskbar are just part of the screenshot you took, they won’t open or move or do anything they’re supposed to do. It will appear as if the computer is totally frozen.
2 Make sure you are nearby the next time your victim uses his computer so you can witness the panic. Or speed things along and ask him to look something up for you. You might want to take pity on your victim and show him how to exit full-screen mode before he calls the help desk!
FOR MORE COMPUTER PRANKS, GO TO WORKMAN.COM/COMPUTERPRANKS
Hugh Troy:
The Human Rhino
Hugh Troy was an artist who illustrated children’s books. He also excelled at the art of pranking. He is perhaps best known for a hoax he reportedly played when he was a student at Cornell University in the 1920s. As Troy told it, he knew a certain professor who had a wastebasket that was made out of a rhinoceros’ foot. One day after a big snowstorm, Troy and a friend borrowed the wastebasket and used it to make a trail of rhino footprints across the snow. When they got to the edge of a frozen lake, they cut a big hole in the ice so it looked like the rhino had fallen in. When the story that a rhino had drowned in the lake spread through the town, some people stopped drinking the tap water—until Troy revealed that he was the rascal behind the rhino. There is some debate about whether Troy actually executed all of the pranks he is known for. There is no doubt, however, that he was a genius at dreaming up one-of-a-kind capers.
Troy had some good advice on how to invent your own pranks. He said that rather than consciously trying to think up a prank, you should just be open to ideas that come to you as you observe what’s around you.
the prank
As a rule, you shouldn’t mess with someone else’s computer. But this computer mouse prank is harmless and quick—sort of like a real mouse. Try it on an especially technologically challenged adult.
what you need
* Access to a friend’s or family member’s computer mouse (it must be an optical or laser mouse, the kind with a red light)
* A small square of paper
* Tape
What you do
THE SETUP
1 When your victim is away from his computer, attach the small square of paper to the bottom of the mouse with tape so it covers the little light.
2 Make sure the paper doesn’t stick out along the edges of the mouse. Tear off the edges if necessary.
PULL THE PRANK
1 Turn the mouse upright and leave it where you found it. When your victim tries to use the mouse, it will appear to be “dead.” You can offer to make funeral arrangements, but if it looks like the person is about to purchase a new mouse, it’s time to ‘fess up.
FOR MORE COMPUTER PRANKS, GO TO WORKMAN.COM/COMPUTERPRANKS
VERY IMPORTANT PRANKS
V.I.P
A Giggle from Google
Every year on April Fools’ Day, technology companies (such as Google) try to outdo each other with their online pranks. In 2011 some computer wizards at a college in California outdid Google at its own prank.
On April 1 Google told users of Gmail that it was introducing a new version of the service called Google Motion that let them control Gmail with their bodies. The company produced a video that showed how the service worked: Users could swing one arm backward to reply to a message; swing two arms to reply to all; and lick their hand and tap their knee to send a message. It was all supposed to be a joke. But the joke was on Google when researchers at the University of Southern California quickly created a version of Google Motion that really worked! Hours after Google announced its prank version of Google Motion, the researchers posted a video showing their real version. They introduced it by saying, “For whatever reason, Google’s application doesn’t appear to work. So we demonstrate our solution.” Game over!
the prank
Your family and friends probably love you, but does that love extend to a desire to see your face every time their computer goes to sleep? You’ll soon find out! (Remember, as a rule you shouldn’t meddle with someone else’s computer, so check with an adult if you have doubts.)
what you need
* Access to a sibling’s or friend’s computer
* A silly picture of yourself
what you do
THE SETUP
1 Take a picture of yourself doing something ridiculous. Here are a few suggestions to get you started:
* A close-up headshot of you sticking your tongue out at the camera with an open banana peel or pair of under-pants on your head.
* You looking terrified and pretending to have a stuffed animal stuck on your neck, as if the thing is attacking you.
* You looking very serious while pretending to read a very serious book that is very seriously upside down.
2 Save the picture to your computer and email it to yourself so you’ll have easy access to it when you’re ready to pull this prank.
3 You will follow different directions depending on whether your victim has a Mac or a PC.
If your victim has a Mac …
1 Download and save your photo, or photos, in a separate folder or event in iPhoto.
2 Go to the Apple menu and select “System Preferences.”
3 Select the “View” menu and then “Desktop & Screen Saver.”
4 Select iPhoto and then the folder that contains the photo, or photos, you want to use.
5 Make sure the computer is set to go to sleep after a short interval.
If your victim has a PC …
1 Download and save your photo, or photos, in a separate folder in My Pictures.
2 Right-click on the desktop and select “Personalize.”
3 Click on “Screen Saver.”
4 Select “Photos” from the drop-down menu. Then select “Settings” and then “Browse” to choose which photo, or photos, you want to use. Hit “Save” and then click “OK.”
5 Make sure the computer is set to go to sleep after a short interval.
PULL THE PRANK
1 Now you have two options:
* You can wait for your victim to let her computer fall asleep—you’ll know when she’s discovered your special present when you get the call/text/email asking why your lovely face is all over her screen.
* You can also speed up the process—and enjoy the reaction in person—if you ask to use your friend’s computer after you’ve set the prank in motion and the computer is asleep. Tell your friend you want to show her something so she’ll be looking at the screen when you wake the computer up.
She might never trust you with her computer again, but hopefully her reaction will make up for that.
FOR MORE COMPUTER PRANKS, GO TO WORKMAN.COM/COMPUTERPRANKS
Coyle & Sharpe:
Is Your Head a Sugar Bowl?
Long before reality TV was invented, two radio hosts from San Francisco were walking up to strangers in the street, asking them ridiculous questions, and recording the results with a hidden microphone. Dressed in suits and sounding very serious, Jim Coyle and Mal Sharpe asked their victims questions like, “Would you let someone use your head as a sugar bowl?” Or, “Would you be willing to help future generations of humans fly by having chicken wings attached to your forehead?” Amazingly, people gave serious answers, which were then broadcast on Coyle and Sharpe’s nightly radio show to hilarious effect. Coyle once said their secret was in “pushing their victims as far as they’ll go before they take a poke at us.” During the 1960s the duo duped thousands of people—without getting poked—and entertained millions of listeners at home.
Mal
Sharpe and Jim Coyle
the prank
Using just a spoonful of flour and your supurb storytelling skills, you can completely freak out your friends. Tell them you were helping your mom bake cookies earlier, or you were doing a science experiment, and—cough cough—something went wrong.
BEWARE!
This prank may cause a mess. Be prepared to clean Up!
what you need
* A teaspoon of flour
what you do
THE SETUP
1 Practice this prank alone before you try it on your victim. Place the spoonful of flour in the palm of one hand. Make a loose fist with that hand, the way you do when you cough. It’s important not to squeeze your fist too tightly. And remember not to breathe in the flour when you lift your fist to your mouth!
2 Now try coughing into your fist. Your cough should force the flour out of the opening at the other end of your fist where your pinkie is. You’ll need to try tightening or loosening your fist until you can make it work just right.
PULL THE PRANK
1 With flour in one hand, walk up to your victim and start a conversation. Hold your hand down by your side so it looks perfectly normal. In the middle of the conversation, when you have your victim’s full attention, bring your fist up to your mouth and start coughing. Your victim will be shocked to see you coughing up clouds of white stuff.
2 At this point, you have two choices: You can say absolutely nothing, and act like it’s perfectly normal to cough up white stuff. Or you can freak out, too. Say, “Man, that feels better! I was having trouble breathing. I had to clear my lungs.”
the prank
Most people think it’s their lucky day when they find a dollar bill lying on the sidewalk. But when your victims reach for this trick bill, they’ll wish they had kept walking. The dollar seems to move under its own power—but it’s really you, at the other end of a piece of fishing line.