A practical joke device is a manufactured prop or toy intended to confuse, frighten, or amuse individuals as a prank. Often, these objects are harmless facsimiles of disgusting or terrifying objects, such as vomit or spilled nail polish. In other instances, they are created as seemingly harmless items designed to humorously malfunction in such a way as to confuse or harm the target of a prank. The devices are frequently sold in magic or specialty shops, purchased over the Internet, or crafted for oneself. Perhaps the most notable such device is the Whoopee cushion.
Though commonly employed at events and gatherings, practical joke devices are sometimes seen in everyday life, either as a mechanism of play by children, or among adult co-workers in a work environment. In addition to commercially manufactured practical joke devices, everyday objects have been converted into joke devices by purveyors of pranks.
Historical accounts of practical joke devices date as far back as Xenophanes (570 - 480 BC), who wrote of such gags.
Excrement pile
Soiled diaper
Vomit
Snot (for attaching to the nose)
"New, lemon yellow Ty-D-Bol"
Body parts
Artificial body parts can be, for example, attached on or under autos (to pretend as if someone's lost a limb after they're run over).
artificial arm
artificial foot
artificial hand
jammed finger
oversized feet
protruding eyes (accessory or on glasses)
Truck nutz
Arrow in head
Arrow and fake blood
Nail through finger or head
Knife in head
Predators
A fake shark dorsal fin to appear to onlookers as a live shark pursuing a swimmer at a public beach or pool
Vermin
Mice, rats
Snakes
Spiders
Bugs (ants, roaches)
Worms, etc.
Partial (or injured) stuffed toy animals
A stuffed-animal tiger's tail as a promotional gimmick for "a tiger in your tank" (Esso oil company slogan)
Partial animals such as a half cat, designed to appear so that the rest of the animal is trapped in a closed/latched door or storage compartment
Roadkill animals or fake remains of injured animals. One such "Dead Dog Prop", billed as a "foam filled latex prop of a skinned dog with large tire track squished through its mid torso, chain attached for dragging purposes," was pulled from Sears, Walmart and Amazon websites a few days before Halloween 2013.
Costumes for animals, in order to dress them up for seasonal events such as Halloween or Christmas.
Groucho glasses
Moustaches
Beards
Masks (particularly ones made of latex)
Teeth (such as Dracula teeth, monster teeth, yellow teeth) that are similar to dentures
Oversize undergarments
Smoking articles
Lit cigarette lookalike device
Bang-producing matches
Exploding cigars
Exploding cigarette inserts
Cigarette burn sticker
Squirting cigarette
Lighters (with electric shock, squirting, or bang-producing)
Everlasting ash (the ash does not fall off)
Fake blood
Magic ink (disappears after a short time)
Stink bomb
Broken egg with shell
Fake spilled liquid with container, such as nail polish, chocolate syrup, red wine, etc.
Squirting flower or camera
Whoopee cushion
Fart Machine (a remote controlled 3" battery powered speaker that sets off sounds of various farts)
Fart spray
Fart Salt & Pepper
Sneezing Powder
Itching Powder
Exhaust pipe whistle tips (for the muffler of an auto)
Fart powder
Pen (with electric shock, or to set off a cap)
Camera (with electric shock or squirting)
Bitter candy (or e.g. with garlic flavor)
Golf ball made of gypsum (shatters to powder when struck)
Beer mug with enclosed liquid
Pack of chewing gum (with smacking spring, squirting, electric shock, or to set off a cap)
Water balloons
Squeaking salt shaker
Banana peels
Foaming sugar cube
Ring (squirting)
Telescope with ink on lens (leaves a black circle around the victim's eye after use)
Snake nut can looks like a can of nuts but has a spring snake inside, surprising the victim when opened.
Novelty soap
Soot soap - turns hands black
Blood soap
Butt/Face soap (large bar soap one side white with the word "FACE" and the other side brown with the word "BUTT")
Toilet paper
Printed slogans such as a John Wayne or Chuck Norris roll, "Rough, tough, and doesn't take poop from anybody"
No tear toilet paper
Various printed patterns: caution tape, crime scene tape, sandpaper, or cheese grater teeth
Documents and currency
Fake lotto tickets
Fake traffic tickets
Fake or novelty currency
Coin glued to a sidewalk or bogus currency glued inside a toilet bowl where hapless finders will attempt to retrieve it
Banknotes printed on one side only or one half of the page, so as to look valid when folded. Once unfolded, the remainder of the document is blank or carries a message or promotional advertisement
Fake denominations of currency such as the three dollar bill or the pink pound. Another variant is the use of unrealistically-large fictional denominations such as one million or a billion dollars.
Currency depicting recent incumbent politicians instead of historical leaders, usually casting them in an unfavourable light. A Pierre Elliott Trudeau "fuddle dollar" may identify itself as inflated and worthless currency, or a non-standard denomination with Nixon, Bush, or Trump presidential likenesses may infer itself to be unreliable, untrustworthy, or worthless as a means of parodying these figures.
Currency issued by fictional, defunct, or non-sovereign entities, such as a reprint of the now-worthless Confederate dollar or a parody "Quebuck" purporting to be issued by Québec separatists.
Currency issued on non-standard media (such as rubber "to stretch a dollar" or bog roll as an implicit acknowledgement the money being parodied is worthless) or marked on its face as "funny money" issued by counterfeiters.
Camouflage passports from fictional nations or planets.
A bogus charge card entitled "Major Credit Card" and purporting to be "for major purchases only".
A bogus charge card whose name and branding is a clear parody of an existing, well-known card and slogan. A Yakov Smirnoff book cover depicting a Russian version of American Express with slogan "Don't leave home" is one example.
Bullet hole or glasscrack
DVD rewinder
Covert TV Clicker (a miniature remote that controls TVs). These differ from standard universal remote controls in that they blindly, without interruption, send the turn-off code for every make of television in sequence. No attempt is made to determine which is the valid code or provide any useful control other than turning the TV off.
Hot candy
Cheap inflatable dolls. Inflatable sheep or goats are manufactured solely as a practical joke item.
Pie (to be sat on or thrown at the face of a victim)
