Join our April Fools Challenge for a chance at TEA-RRIFIC prizes!!!

Hello, and let’s get this out of the way right now: this is no joke!! Tired of building world-changing, hyper-optimized production apps? Sick of reading about clean architecture, scalability, and practicality for a moment? Then we have the perfect challenge for you! It’s time to lean into the chaos of the internet: Welcome to the **DEV April Fools Challenge**. 🦄 {% card %} ## Our Prompt: HTCPCP IYKYK Your mandate for this challenge is to **build something completely useless or silly.** We want software that solves zero real-world problems. A CSS-only site that un-centers divs? Great. A volume slider that requires you to shake your phone to turn up the music? Awesome. Your only goal is to make us laugh, scratch our heads, or ask _*Why on earth did they build this?*_ Make a fool of yourself and have fun with it! ### Additional Prize Categories: - **Best Google AI Usage:** Tell us how you leveraged Google AI for this submission. Did you build with Antigravity, experiment in Google AI Studio, or use the Gemini CLI? Or is there a Google AI product embedded in your build such as the Gemini API or any Google Cloud product such as Cloud Run? Tell us all about your experience! - **Best Ode to Larry Masinter:** We’re talking teapots and intentional 418s. - **Community Favorite**: Awarded to one of the most popular submissions based on comments, reactions, overall quality, and final judge discretion. {% endcard %} --- ## Judging Criteria and Prizes All submissions will be judged on the following: - **Anti-Value Proposition:** How delightfully useless, silly, or over-engineered is this project? - **Creativity:** Is the concept original or a hilariously bad take on a familiar problem? - **Technical Execution:** Ironically, building bad software sometimes takes good engineering. Is it functional in its dysfunction? - **Writing Quality:** Is the submission post clear, and does it tell a funny, compelling story about your project? ### Prizes We’ll select two winners for the overall prompt, and one winner for each additional prize category. Our five total winners will each receive: - A surprise teapot or coffee maker with appropriate fixings (approx. $50 USD value) - [DEV++ Membership](/++) - Exclusive DEV Badge **All participants** with a valid submission will receive a completion badge. --- {% card %} ## How To Participate Publish a post on DEV using the submission template below. Your post should give us an overview of what you built and a demo of your project. {% cta https://dev.to/new?prefill=---%0Atitle%3A%20%0Apublished%3A%20false%0Atags%3A%20devchallenge%2C%20418challenge%2C%20showdev%0A---%0A%0A%2AThis%20is%20a%20submission%20for%20the%20%5BDEV%20April%20Fools%20Challenge%5D%28https%3A%2F%2Fdev.to%2Fchallenges%2Faprilfools-2026%29%2A%0A%0A%23%23%20What%20I%20Built%0A%3C%21--%20Give%20us%20an%20overview%20of%20your%20delightfully%20useless%20project%20--%3E%0A%0A%23%23%20Demo%0A%3C%21--%20Share%20a%20video%20demo%20or%20link%20to%20your%20project%20--%3E%0A%0A%23%23%20Code%0A%3C%21--%20Show%20us%20the%20code%21%20You%20can%20embed%20a%20GitHub%20repo%20directly%20into%20your%20post.%20--%3E%0A%0A%23%23%20How%20I%20Built%20It%0A%3C%21--%20Tell%20us%20about%20the%20technologies%20you%20used%20--%3E%0A%0A%23%23%20Prize%20Category%0A%3C%21--%20If%20you%20are%20submitting%20for%20a%20specific%20prize%20category%20%28Best%20Google%20AI%20Usage%2C%20Best%20Ode%20to%20Larry%20Masinter%2C%20or%20Community%20Favorite%29%2C%20tell%20us%20which%20one%20and%20why%21%20--%3E%0A%0A%3C%21--%20Team%20Submissions%3A%20Please%20pick%20one%20member%20to%20publish%20the%20submission%20and%20credit%20teammates%20by%20listing%20their%20DEV%20usernames%20directly%20in%20the%20body%20of%20the%20post.%20--%3E%0A%0A%3C%21--%20Thanks%20for%20participating%21%20--%3E %} April Fools Challenge Submission Template {% endcta %} _Please review our [judging criteria, rules, guidelines, and FAQ page](https://dev.to/challenges/weekend-2026-02-28) before submitting so you understand our participation guidelines and official contest rules such as eligibility requirements._ {% endcard %} --- ## Important Dates - **April 1**: April Fools Challenge begins! - <mark>**April 12 at 11:59pm PT**: Submissions Due</mark> - **April 23:** Winners Announced We can’t wait to see what crazy projects you come up with. Questions about the challenge? Drop them in the comments below. Good luck!!