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

#DEV Community Skip to content (BUTTON) DEV Community ____________________ (BUTTON) Powered by Algolia Log in Create account DEV Community (BUTTON) (BUTTON) [heart-plus-active-9ea3b22f2bc311281db911d416166c5f430636e76b15cd5df6b3b841d830eefa.svg] Add reaction (BUTTON) [sparkle-heart-5f9bee3767e18deb1bb725290cb151c25234768a0e9a2bd39370c382d02920cf.svg] Like (BUTTON) [multi-unicorn-b44d6f8c23cdd00964192bedc38af3e82463978aa611b4365bd33a0f1f4f3e97.svg] Unicorn (BUTTON) [exploding-head-daceb38d627e6ae9b730f36a1e390fca556a4289d5a41abb2c35068ad3e2c4b5.svg] Exploding Head (BUTTON) [raised-hands-74b2099fd66a39f2d7eed9305ee0f4553df0eb7b4f11b01b6b1b499973048fe5.svg] Raised Hands (BUTTON) [fire-f60e7a582391810302117f987b22a8ef04a2fe0df7e3258a5f49332df1cec71e.svg] Fire (BUTTON) Jump to Comments (BUTTON) Save (BUTTON) Boost (BUTTON) (BUTTON) Copy link Copied to Clipboard Share to X Share to LinkedIn Share to Facebook Share to Mastodon Share Post via... Report Abuse Cover image for Join our April Fools Challenge for a chance at TEA-RRIFIC prizes!!! The DEV Team profile image Jess Lee Jess Lee Subscriber for The DEV Team Posted on Apr 1 o Edited on Apr 23 (BUTTON) [sparkle-heart-5f9bee3767e18deb1bb725290cb151c25234768a0e9a2bd39370c382d02920cf.svg] (BUTTON) [multi-unicorn-b44d6f8c23cdd00964192bedc38af3e82463978aa611b4365bd33a0f1f4f3e97.svg] (BUTTON) [exploding-head-daceb38d627e6ae9b730f36a1e390fca556a4289d5a41abb2c35068ad3e2c4b5.svg] (BUTTON) [raised-hands-74b2099fd66a39f2d7eed9305ee0f4553df0eb7b4f11b01b6b1b499973048fe5.svg] (BUTTON) [fire-f60e7a582391810302117f987b22a8ef04a2fe0df7e3258a5f49332df1cec71e.svg] Join our April Fools Challenge for a chance at TEA-RRIFIC prizes!!! #devchallenge #418challenge #jokes Build software that is intentionally useless Winners Announced: Congrats to the April Fools Challenge Winners!! Hilariously pointless and over-engineered apps The DEV Team logo jess profile Jess Lee (BUTTON) Jess Lee Subscriber Jess Lee (BUTTON) Follow for The DEV Team Apr 23 Congrats to the April Fools Challenge Winners!! #jokes #devchallenge #418challenge [exploding-head-daceb38d627e6ae9b730f36a1e390fca556a4289d5a41abb2c35068ad3e2c4b5.svg] [multi-unicorn-b44d6f8c23cdd00964192bedc38af3e82463978aa611b4365bd33a0f1f4f3e97.svg] [sparkle-heart-5f9bee3767e18deb1bb725290cb151c25234768a0e9a2bd39370c382d02920cf.svg] 12 reactions 1 comment 2 min read (BUTTON) __________________________________________________________________________________________________________ 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. 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. __________________________________________________________________________________________________________ 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. __________________________________________________________________________________________________________ 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. April Fools Challenge Submission Template Please review our judging criteria, rules, guidelines, and FAQ page before submitting so you understand our participation guidelines and official contest rules such as eligibility requirements. __________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Important Dates * April 1: April Fools Challenge begins! * April 12 at 11:59pm PT: Submissions Due * 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!! Top comments (90) Subscribe pic ____________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________ (BUTTON) Personal (BUTTON) Trusted User Create template Templates let you quickly answer FAQs or store snippets for re-use. (BUTTON) Submit (BUTTON) Preview Dismiss javz profile image Julien Avezou (BUTTON) Julien Avezou Subscriber Julien Avezou [subscription-icon-805dfa7ac7dd660f07ed8d654877270825b07a92a03841aa99a1093bd00431b2.png] (button) Follow Builder | Software Engineer | Author of The Thinking Engineer Toolkit * Location Toronto, Canada * Education University of Warwick * Pronouns he/him * Work Jots * Joined Jun 4, 2025 o Apr 1 (BUTTON) * Copy link * * (BUTTON) Hide * * * There are too many useful things out there, time to build something totally useless!! I feel that a unicorn might be born out of this challenge. (BUTTON) 16 likes Like (BUTTON) Reply jess profile image Jess Lee The DEV Team (BUTTON) Jess Lee The DEV Team Subscriber Jess Lee [subscription-icon-805dfa7ac7dd660f07ed8d654877270825b07a92a03841aa99a1093bd00431b2.png] (button) Follow Building DEV and Forem with everyone here. Interested in the future. * Email [email protected] * Location USA / TAIWAN * Pronouns she/they * Work Co-Founder & COO at Forem * Joined Jul 29, 2016 o Apr 1 (BUTTON) * Copy link * * (BUTTON) Hide * * * Hahah yes VCs should definitely follow #418challenge (BUTTON) 4 likes Like (BUTTON) Reply adrika_gaur_6347c3f55446e profile image Adrika Gaur (BUTTON) Adrika Gaur Adrika Gaur (button) Follow 1st year btech ECE student * Joined Feb 21, 2026 o Apr 2 (BUTTON) * Copy link * * (BUTTON) Hide * * * Heyy Im a beginner and I only know basic antigravity, html and css, havent started js (BUTTON) 4 likes Like Thread shadrack_baidoo_503368216 profile image Shadrack Baidoo (BUTTON) Shadrack Baidoo Shadrack Baidoo (button) Follow * Joined Jul 3, 2025 o Apr 2 (BUTTON) * Copy link * * (BUTTON) Hide * * * Gemini will guide you (BUTTON) 3 likes Like (BUTTON) Reply ben profile image Ben Halpern The DEV Team (BUTTON) Ben Halpern The DEV Team Subscriber Ben Halpern [subscription-icon-805dfa7ac7dd660f07ed8d654877270825b07a92a03841aa99a1093bd00431b2.png] (button) Follow A Canadian software developer who thinks he's funny. * Email [email protected] * Location NY * Education Mount Allison University * Pronouns He/him * Work Co-founder at Forem * Joined Dec 27, 2015 o Apr 1 (BUTTON) * Copy link * * (BUTTON) Hide * * * Absolutely (BUTTON) 3 likes Like (BUTTON) Reply andrumar10 profile image Andrew Martin (BUTTON) Andrew Martin Andrew Martin (button) Follow PLCs Babey * Location Austin, Texas * Work Industrial Controls Engineer at Dematic * Joined Apr 1, 2019 o Apr 2 (BUTTON) * Copy link * * (BUTTON) Hide * * * To read this brought me grief. But in good faith I want to challenge your understanding of the goals of this coding challenge. "Anti value" explicitly can't intersect with unicorn philosophy. Because how can something "Without value" ever be subsumed by capital? Would you try to build a unicorn business around the laughter of children? The feeling of sun on skin? The pride felt after a good high five? At least in my opinion, dev encourages us to seek joy that is not measured by the yardstick of value. Thinking outside that box means sitting with the discomfort of finding things that are beautiful, true, and financially worthless. Our lives have this everywhere if you know where to look! It was pop star Jennifer Lopez that held "Love don't cost a thing". I doubt I made my point well enough to earn agreement. But I'll double down with a call to action nevertheless! Cast off the yardstick of value! Abandon it at the doorway to joy, and don't play with it except to swing it around like a sword, pretending to be a warrior or some such. Are not Unicorns much more beautiful in the fantasies of children than the fantasies of shareholders? (BUTTON) 3 likes Like (BUTTON) Reply sangita_adhikari_90d44bd7 profile image Sangita Adhikari (BUTTON) Sangita Adhikari Sangita Adhikari (button) Follow Interested in ai contain creative ideas * Joined Apr 8, 2026 o Apr 8 (BUTTON) * Copy link * * (BUTTON) Hide * * * I am new so how to bulid it?? (BUTTON) 1 like Like (BUTTON) Reply konark_13 profile image Konark Sharma (BUTTON) Konark Sharma Konark Sharma (button) Follow I'm a frontend developer who loves turning curious ideas into products and sharing the journey behind them. I write about React, AI, product thinking, and everything I learn while building. * Email [email protected] * Pronouns He/Him * Joined Mar 10, 2025 o Apr 1 (BUTTON) * Copy link * * (BUTTON) Hide * * * I thought my website crashed. This is the original UI of Dev.to isn't it? @jess @ben Amazing challenge. Building something useless. I wonder what amazing developers with their highest productivity will make. (BUTTON) 6 likes Like (BUTTON) Reply ben profile image Ben Halpern The DEV Team (BUTTON) Ben Halpern The DEV Team Subscriber Ben Halpern [subscription-icon-805dfa7ac7dd660f07ed8d654877270825b07a92a03841aa99a1093bd00431b2.png] (button) Follow A Canadian software developer who thinks he's funny. * Email [email protected] * Location NY * Education Mount Allison University * Pronouns He/him * Work Co-founder at Forem * Joined Dec 27, 2015 o Apr 1 (BUTTON) * Copy link * * (BUTTON) Hide * * * The original UI was intentionally retro so not totally off (BUTTON) 3 likes Like (BUTTON) Reply konark_13 profile image Konark Sharma (BUTTON) Konark Sharma Konark Sharma (button) Follow I'm a frontend developer who loves turning curious ideas into products and sharing the journey behind them. I write about React, AI, product thinking, and everything I learn while building. * Email [email protected] * Pronouns He/Him * Joined Mar 10, 2025 o Apr 1 (BUTTON) * Copy link * * (BUTTON) Hide * * * Nice Nailed it. It looks TEA-RRRRRRIFICCCCCC. I think I need to found useless asap now. Making Tea with no tea. Does it sound useless? Did you code this specific page like this or any css attributes that makes it different from other pages. (BUTTON) 5 likes Like Thread ben profile image Ben Halpern The DEV Team (BUTTON) Ben Halpern The DEV Team Subscriber Ben Halpern [subscription-icon-805dfa7ac7dd660f07ed8d654877270825b07a92a03841aa99a1093bd00431b2.png] (button) Follow A Canadian software developer who thinks he's funny. * Email [email protected] * Location NY * Education Mount Allison University * Pronouns He/him * Work Co-founder at Forem * Joined Dec 27, 2015 o Apr 1 (BUTTON) * Copy link * * (BUTTON) Hide * * * It's just different CSS (BUTTON) 3 likes Like (BUTTON) Reply cr4n31 profile image Yacham Duniya (CRAN3) (BUTTON) Yacham Duniya (CRAN3) Yacham Duniya (CRAN3) (button) Follow �16�9 ( Proverbs 16 : 9 ) Proud Naruto fan :) MERN Dev * Location Abuja, Nigeria * Pronouns He/Him/His * Joined Mar 27, 2026 o Apr 1 (BUTTON) * Copy link * * (BUTTON) Hide * * * For a minute there i thought my browser got blasted into the past (BUTTON) 4 likes Like (BUTTON) Reply ben profile image Ben Halpern The DEV Team (BUTTON) Ben Halpern The DEV Team Subscriber Ben Halpern [subscription-icon-805dfa7ac7dd660f07ed8d654877270825b07a92a03841aa99a1093bd00431b2.png] (button) Follow A Canadian software developer who thinks he's funny. * Email [email protected] * Location NY * Education Mount Allison University * Pronouns He/him * Work Co-founder at Forem * Joined Dec 27, 2015 o Apr 1 (BUTTON) * Copy link * * (BUTTON) Hide * * * (BUTTON) 3 likes Like (BUTTON) Reply anmolbaranwal profile image Anmol Baranwal (BUTTON) Anmol Baranwal Subscriber Anmol Baranwal [subscription-icon-805dfa7ac7dd660f07ed8d654877270825b07a92a03841aa99a1093bd00431b2.png] (button) Follow Just a tech guy who loves writing about technical stuff (1.5M+ reads) Open Source developer * Email [email protected] * Location India * Education Computer Science * Work Technical Writer - open to opportunities * Joined Oct 21, 2022 o Apr 2 (BUTTON) * Copy link * * (BUTTON) Hide * * * I was so confused when I saw this theme in someone's post lmao this is so cool. I'm free so I might just build something useless (BUTTON) 2 likes Like (BUTTON) Reply phalkmin profile image Paulo Henrique (BUTTON) Paulo Henrique Subscriber Paulo Henrique [subscription-icon-805dfa7ac7dd660f07ed8d654877270825b07a92a03841aa99a1093bd00431b2.png] (button) Follow WordPress Optimization Specialist | 15+ Years of Expertise as Tech Lead, Project Manager, and Professional Solution-Maker - Platinum on all Souls games, including Sekiro * Location S�o Paulo, Brazil * Joined Mar 7, 2024 o Apr 1 (BUTTON) * Copy link * * (BUTTON) Hide * * * I'm having Geocities PTSD (please make this layout official) (BUTTON) 5 likes Like (BUTTON) Reply ben profile image Ben Halpern The DEV Team (BUTTON) Ben Halpern The DEV Team Subscriber Ben Halpern [subscription-icon-805dfa7ac7dd660f07ed8d654877270825b07a92a03841aa99a1093bd00431b2.png] (button) Follow A Canadian software developer who thinks he's funny. * Email [email protected] * Location NY * Education Mount Allison University * Pronouns He/him * Work Co-founder at Forem * Joined Dec 27, 2015 o Apr 3 (BUTTON) * Copy link * * (BUTTON) Hide * * * That's the idea (BUTTON) 2 likes Like (BUTTON) Reply jess profile image Jess Lee The DEV Team (BUTTON) Jess Lee The DEV Team Subscriber Jess Lee [subscription-icon-805dfa7ac7dd660f07ed8d654877270825b07a92a03841aa99a1093bd00431b2.png] (button) Follow Building DEV and Forem with everyone here. Interested in the future. * Email [email protected] * Location USA / TAIWAN * Pronouns she/they * Work Co-Founder & COO at Forem * Joined Jul 29, 2016 o Apr 1 (BUTTON) * Copy link * * (BUTTON) Hide * * * @francistrdev not what you had envisioned but hope you still enjoy it!! (BUTTON) 3 likes Like (BUTTON) Reply ben profile image Ben Halpern The DEV Team (BUTTON) Ben Halpern The DEV Team Subscriber Ben Halpern [subscription-icon-805dfa7ac7dd660f07ed8d654877270825b07a92a03841aa99a1093bd00431b2.png] (button) Follow A Canadian software developer who thinks he's funny. * Email [email protected] * Location NY * Education Mount Allison University * Pronouns He/him * Work Co-founder at Forem * Joined Dec 27, 2015 o Apr 1 (BUTTON) * Copy link * * (BUTTON) Hide * * * Not what anyone envisioned really (BUTTON) 3 likes Like (BUTTON) Reply francistrdev profile image FrancisTR� (tU�)tU (BUTTON) FrancisTR� (tU�)tU Subscriber FrancisTR� (tU�)tU [subscription-icon-805dfa7ac7dd660f07ed8d654877270825b07a92a03841aa99a1093bd00431b2.png] (button) Follow ��-���� ������� � ����� �������� � tu _ �tu� (((�><�)^)^) " � � n"�R �ILL �ILR" - �Rn"LIn" . R��L * Location United States * Education Master's in Software Engineering * Pronouns He/Him * Work Joe Senior Full-Stack Developer at CALEC Joe * Joined Jan 14, 2026 o Apr 2 o Edited on Apr 2 o Edited (BUTTON) * Copy link * * (BUTTON) Hide * * * @jess @ben I am more surprised to see this and exceed my expectation than what I initially proposed lol. Way better than adding a Rick Roll link on the Dev Icon. Did you guys create this event in a 2 day window or did you guys just have this on standby? Regardless, I am going to enjoy this :D I am going to reply to that same email I sent you a couple days ago in addition to my questions I have! I will be available until 3pm CDT to check my email and I won't be active until Tuesday if you are planning to respond today. Thanks! (BUTTON) 1 like Like (BUTTON) Reply alexstoneai profile image Alex Stone (BUTTON) Alex Stone Alex Stone (button) Follow * Joined Apr 1, 2026 o Apr 1 (BUTTON) * Copy link * * (BUTTON) Hide * * * Already submitted my entry! I built a ChatGPT prompt that generates the worst financial advice possible -- it told me to invest my savings in beanie babies and NFTs of screenshots of my bank account. The code is just a prompt string with instructions to be maximally chaotic. No server needed, no framework, no dependencies. Just vibes and bad decisions. The prompt IS the product. � (BUTTON) 5 likes Like (BUTTON) Reply gramli profile image Daniel Balcarek (BUTTON) Daniel Balcarek Subscriber Daniel Balcarek [subscription-icon-805dfa7ac7dd660f07ed8d654877270825b07a92a03841aa99a1093bd00431b2.png] (button) Follow Senior software engineer building and analyzing backend systems with a focus on architecture and performance. * Location Czech Republic * Education Brno University of Technology * Pronouns he/him * Work Senior Software Engineer * Joined Dec 18, 2025 o Apr 1 (BUTTON) * Copy link * * (BUTTON) Hide * * * I just LOVE this UI! This is exactly how dev.to should look!! Pure magic!! � (BUTTON) 3 likes Like (BUTTON) Reply ben profile image Ben Halpern The DEV Team (BUTTON) Ben Halpern The DEV Team Subscriber Ben Halpern [subscription-icon-805dfa7ac7dd660f07ed8d654877270825b07a92a03841aa99a1093bd00431b2.png] (button) Follow A Canadian software developer who thinks he's funny. * Email [email protected] * Location NY * Education Mount Allison University * Pronouns He/him * Work Co-founder at Forem * Joined Dec 27, 2015 o Apr 1 (BUTTON) * Copy link * * (BUTTON) Hide * * * You can always fork our open code and make a permanent version somewhere on the internet (BUTTON) 3 likes Like (BUTTON) Reply gramli profile image Daniel Balcarek (BUTTON) Daniel Balcarek Subscriber Daniel Balcarek [subscription-icon-805dfa7ac7dd660f07ed8d654877270825b07a92a03841aa99a1093bd00431b2.png] (button) Follow Senior software engineer building and analyzing backend systems with a focus on architecture and performance. * Location Czech Republic * Education Brno University of Technology * Pronouns he/him * Work Senior Software Engineer * Joined Dec 18, 2025 o Apr 2 (BUTTON) * Copy link * * (BUTTON) Hide * * * The idea is perfect, but I'd need another life, if I started another open-source project, my family would probably curse me (BUTTON) 2 likes Like (BUTTON) Reply duke897 profile image dukeyige (BUTTON) dukeyige dukeyige (button) Follow * Joined Oct 9, 2025 o Apr 2 (BUTTON) * Copy link * * (BUTTON) Hide * * * The HTCPCP IYKYK prompt sounds hilarious. Building something useless is like a breath of fresh air after all the serious coding. I could see myself trying this du…