April Fools' Day comics
- For a list of comics, see Category:April Fools' Day comics.
The xkcd April Fools' Day comics are special releases that commemorate April Fools' Day, often using experimental formats and interactive features. They have been posted almost yearly since 2007, starting with the unnumbered comic Syndication. The most recent April Fools' Day comics are often interactive and engage readers through collaborative editing, voting systems, or games. Several comics have been significantly delayed, sometimes by weeks, due to their complex features, with the most delayed being 2765: Escape Speed in 2023, which arrived 18 days late. However, with the exception of 2009 and 2017, an April Fools' Day comic has been released every year since 2007.
The table below explains all April Fools' Day comics, including their release dates and schedule changes. Hover over the column headers to learn what the colors mean, or click to sort in ascending and descending order.
| # | Released on | Comic | Explanation | April 1st fell on a | Replaced regular comic? |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
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No special April Fools' comic was released in 2006. The closest surrounding comics were 83: Katamari, published on March 31, and 84: National Language, published on April 3. Neither references April Fools' Day or contains any unusual features, indicating that no April-themed content was posted that year. This was also before any April Fools' tradition was established on the site. | Saturday | |||
| 1 | 2007-04-01 (Sunday) | |
The first April Fools' Day comic was posted as an unnumbered entry titled Syndication. It was published on a Sunday, deviating from the normal Monday-Wednesday-Friday schedule specifically to honor April Fools' Day. The comic no longer exists on the site and is preserved only through a forum archive. This marked the beginning of xkcd's April Fools' tradition and introduced the idea of experimenting with the site's format. It came sequentially between 242: The Difference and 243: Appropriate Term. | Sunday | Monday |
| 2 | 2008-04-01 (Tuesday) | |
The second April Fools' Day comic was 404: Not Found, a meta-joke in which the comic appears not to exist. Rather than displaying an image, the page produces a standard "404 Not Found" error, making it a self-referential gag. Although technically a numbered comic, it was unique in being both a published entry and a hidden absence. This was not a regular comic replacement but an extra comic released between Monday and Wednesday. It is later referenced in the April Fools' Day menus of 1193: Externalities and 1975: Right Click, establishing its place in the recurring joke canon. | Tuesday | |
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No April Fools' Day comic was released in 2009. Although 563: Fermirotica was published on April 1 and contains some unconventional content, it lacks any thematic connection to April Fools' Day. However, he did make an April Fools' joke in another way that day: Randall, Jeph Jacques, and Ryan North altered their DNS records to point to each others' websites. | Wednesday | |||
| 3 | 2010-04-01 (Thursday) | |
The third April Fools' entry introduced a full-site transformation known as unixkcd. The website was replaced with a simulated command-line interface that allowed for basic interaction using typed commands. This marked the first April Fools' joke involving a major change to the site itself, rather than a single comic. It was released while 721: Flatland was the newest comic, which had been published March 31st and had no connection to April Fools' Day. | Thursday | |
| 4 | 2011-04-01 (Friday) | |
880: Headache was the fourth April Fools' Day comic and the first to fall on a regular Friday release day. The comic featured a 3D viewing effect that made every xkcd comic up to and including this one appear in 3D, forcing readers to endure 3D viewing on their computer screens. The 3D view remains available at 3d.xkcd.com for all comics prior to this one. This began the practice of releasing April Fools' comics annually, except for 2017. | Friday | |
| 5 | 2012-04-01 (Sunday) | |
1037: Umwelt was posted on Sunday, replacing the expected Monday comic. It featured dynamically generated content based on the reader's browser, location, and other metadata, making each viewer's version vastly different. This was the first April Fools' comic to use adaptive web technology. The next release was not Monday but Wednesday, so it replaced the Monday release. This comic displays the previous comic 1036: Reviews when viewed on unixkcd. | Sunday | Monday |
| 6 | 2013-04-01 (Monday) | |
1193: Externalities included a dropdown menu linking to previous April Fools' comics such as 404: Not Found and 1037: Umwelt. This comic acknowledged the growing tradition of April Fools' specials and embedded a summary of past jokes in its interface. It retained the regular publishing schedule but used site features for a layered experience. | Monday | |
| 7 | 2014-04-01 (Tuesday) | |
1350: Lorenz introduced the ability to collaboratively edit a comic in real time with others. It featured a grid of editable tiles based on user-drawn contributions and was named after Edward Lorenz of chaos theory fame. This was the first Tuesday release, but the other two releases that week fell normally on Monday and Friday, so it replaced Wednesday's release. | Tuesday | Wednesday |
| 8 | 2015-04-01 (Wednesday) | |
1506: xkcloud was an interactive comic that allowed users to submit panels and vote, generating a "cloud" of storylines. It included massive audience participation, expanding on the collaborative experiment from 1350: Lorenz. The interface was part of the growing series of collaborative April Fools' projects. | Wednesday | |
| 9 | 2016-04-04 (Monday) (3d late) |
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1663: Garden was a delayed release originally planned for April 1, which fell on a Friday. It featured a living digital ecosystem where users planted and grew text-based plants. The delay was attributed to technical difficulties, with header text explaining the delay and changing multiple times before release. Due to the delayed launch, 1662: Jack and Jill received more attention than usual. There were only two comics released in the week before this Monday release. | Friday | Monday |
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No April Fools' comic was released in 2017. 1818: Rayleigh Scattering came out on March 31 and 1819: Sweet 16 on April 3, but neither referenced April 1 or included any joke or interactive elements. This year marked a rare break in the annual tradition that had formed since 2010. There was also no delayed April Fools' comic as has been the case in other years. | Saturday | |||
| 10 | 2018-04-01 (Sunday) | |
1975: Right Click presented a mock right-click context menu on the comic page, referencing several previous April Fools' jokes including 404: Not Found, 1037: Umwelt, and 1193: Externalities. The interface blended nostalgia and humor while being fully interactive. It was the first April Fools' menu to acknowledge the complete tradition in a single interface. This marked the resumption of annual April Fools' comics after the 2017 break. The next release was not Monday but Wednesday, so it replaced the Monday release. | Sunday | Monday |
| 11 | 2019-04-01 (Monday) | |
2131: Emojidome featured emoji-based battle tournaments where users voted between pairs of emojis in a bracket system. The interactive comic ran for 24 hours starting on April 1, 2019, with 512 different emojis competing in elimination rounds. The title referenced "Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome", and the Milky Way emoji ultimately won the tournament. | Monday | |
| 12 | 2020-04-03 (Friday) (2d late) |
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2288: Collector's Edition was published two days late due to technical problems and included a parody of media collector culture with multiple "variant covers" that randomized on reload. The original planned Friday comic 2289: Scenario 4 was then released on Saturday April 4th. One of the developers, Max Goodhart, confirmed this was the intended April Fools' Day comic. | Wednesday | Friday |
| 13 | 2021-04-01 (Thursday) | |
2445: Checkbox was the first April Fools' Day comic to be released on a Thursday. It featured a clickable checkbox that dramatically altered the comic when toggled. The comic's UI-based humor and hidden functionality continued the tradition of April 1 experiments. Only Saturday has yet to see a special release. The next release was not Friday but Monday, so it replaced the Friday release. | Thursday | |
| 14 | 2022-04-01 (Friday) | |
2601: Instructions introduced an audio narration feature, making it one of only two xkcd comics to include audio at the time. It built on the prior year's 2445: Checkbox and expanded the experimental features of April Fools' entries. Visually it was similar to the previous year's comic, having only a radio button initially. The audio was a vital part of the joke, and both this comic and Checkbox had mute buttons that worked in reverse of each other, making audio/muting a recurring April Fools' theme. | Friday | |
| 15 | 2023-04-19 (Wednesday) (18d late) |
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2765: Escape Speed was not published until April 19, a full 18 days late. Its release went unannounced at the time, leading to debate about whether it was meant to be an April Fools' comic. The debate was settled when a developer confirmed it was an April Fools' Day comic. The delay was likely due to its complex game-like interface and interactive design. 2757: Towed Message was released closest to April 1st on March 31st, followed by 2758: My Favorite Things on April 3rd. This is the most delayed April Fools' Day comic. | Saturday | |
| 16 | 2024-04-05 (Friday) (4d late) |
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2916: Machine was released four days after April 1. Despite the delay, it was acknowledged on the xkcd Facebook page as that year's April Fools' entry with the message "Happy Belated April Fool's Day!" 2914: Eclipse Coolness had been published on April 1st but was unrelated. Hidden keyboard shortcuts were discovered, including follow balls and debug overlay functions. | Monday | Friday |
| 17 | 2025-04-09 (Wednesday) (8d late) |
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3074: Push Notifications appeared eight days late and was explicitly labeled "April 1st (observed)" in the comic's introduction. There was no comic released on April 1st; the surrounding comics were 3070: Orogeny from March 31st and 3071: Decay Chain from April 2nd. Since delaying April Fools' Day comics had become common, xkcd readers were still hoping for a late comic, marking the fifth time such a comic has been delayed since 1663: Garden in 2016. | Tuesday | Wednesday |
