By Zach Walton

April Fools’ Day is by all means a ridiculous holiday. It’s the only day of the year when pranks of all kinds are not only tolerated, but outright encouraged.

Gamers are no strangers to April Fools’. Numerous developers post outlandish press releases all day to trick those of us who are more gullible.

Don’t let the developers have all the fun, though. There are some great pranks that gamers can pull on their friends that will have them befuddled all day.

The simplest prank would be the wireless controller trick. This works best with an Xbox 360, but it works with the PS3 and Wii as well. You’ll want to sync up the controller with another Xbox 360 or game console of choice in the vicinity.

Once they turn on their controller, they’ll notice it syncing up, but not to their console. While the joke is short lived, some people have been seriously stumped by this.

For those with family who are obsessed with the hit Facebook game “Farmville,” you can try “Farmvillian.”

“Farmvillian” is a “fake” Farmville app that allows users to post humorous posts that appear to be from “Farmville.”

For all those times a family member has asked you to water his or her crops, you can post an update about discovering an outbreak of mad cow disease on your farm. It’s a great trick to frighten family members into thinking that Zynga has introduced new potentially hazardous updates to their favorite Facebook game.

By far the best prank one could pull is to sign a friend up for free trials to numerous games. Many massive multiplayer online games offer free one-week trials, and then spam applicants with offers every day asking them to sign up for a subscription.

While it may not affect everybody, this prank is especially good against those who keep a tight hold on their email accounts.

While these pranks may seem childish, that’s the point of April Fools’ Day. However, it’s not recommended for people to commit crimes or leak private information in the name of a prank. While posting a friend’s Steam ID and password online might seem funny, the potential theft of their Steam profile is not.

So please practice caution on the first of April. It’s a fun day to play pranks, especially for gamers, but keep it within reason. There’s a fine line between pulling a prank and causing a tragedy.

As a final word of advice, take pictures. It’s fun to remind your friends of the embarrassment you caused them for years to come.