--- title: April Fools Day: Google Unveils Google Gnome description: Google's April Fools' Day pranks include Google Gnome and Google Maps Pac-Man, Ms. Pac-Man canonical: https://time.com/4721199/google-april-fools-day-pranks-jokes/ author: Olivia B. Waxman article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2017-03-31T19:00:30.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-04-13T07:42:27.614Z og:title: Google Just Unveiled 'Google Gnome.' It's an April Fools' Gag og:description: The "Smart Yard" complement to Google Home og:url: https://time.com/4721199/google-april-fools-day-pranks-jokes/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltda16d164fb64b59c/6988c0c9fb4eaceb61891554/google-gnome.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: google-gnome og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Google Just Unveiled 'Google Gnome.' It's an April Fools' Gag twitter:description: The "Smart Yard" complement to Google Home twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltda16d164fb64b59c/6988c0c9fb4eaceb61891554/google-gnome.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Google Just Unveiled 'Google Gnome.' It's an April Fools' Gag  by [Olivia B. Waxman](https://time.com/author/olivia-b-waxman/)  ## Olivia B. Waxman Staff Writer Mar 31, 2017 7:00 PM UTC  Don Holtz Photography  by [Olivia B. Waxman](https://time.com/author/olivia-b-waxman/)  ## Olivia B. Waxman Staff Writer Mar 31, 2017 7:00 PM UTC Google pretended Friday to unveil a product called “Google Gnome.” But don’t be a fool, it’s an [April Fools](http://time.com/4718246/april-fools-day-funniest-viral-pranks/)‘ prank. “Google Gnome is here to give every home in America the seamless, voice-activated Connected Yard Experience we all so desperately need,” the company said in a statement. While Google Home can handle indoor tasks, “Google Gnome” is designed handle outdoor tasks, like turning on the hose, controlling the lawn mower, and explaining which flowers are safe to eat and which ones are poisonous. You can see the “commercial” for Google Gnome below. It is the latest April Fools’ Day gag from the search company, which also unveiled a feature in Google Maps that allows users to play [_Ms. Pac-Man_](http://time.com/4721103/april-fools-day-google-maps-ms-pac-man/) in any area with plenty of roads for the colorful characters to charge down. Google is also known for surprising users all year round with various “Easter Eggs,” from the answers that appear when users search for [“fun facts” ](http://new.time.com/4021355/google-easter-egg/)to tools geared towards fans of the hit 2015 movie [_Star Wars: The Force Awakens._](http://new.time.com/4124159/google-star-wars-easter-eggs/) ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4721199/google-april-fools-day-pranks-jokes/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4721199/google-april-fools-day-pranks-jokes/"},"headline":"Google Just Unveiled 'Google Gnome.' It's an April Fools' Gag","datePublished":"2017-03-31T19:00:30.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-13T07:42:27.614Z","description":"The \"Smart Yard\" complement to Google Home","url":"https://time.com/4721199/google-april-fools-day-pranks-jokes/","keywords":["Newsfeed","viral","onetime"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltda16d164fb64b59c/6988c0c9fb4eaceb61891554/google-gnome.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Olivia B. Waxman","jobTitle":"Staff Writer","url":"https://time.com/author/olivia-b-waxman/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltda16d164fb64b59c/6988c0c9fb4eaceb61891554/google-gnome.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"google-gnome","caption":"","creditText":"Don Holtz Photography","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/tag/time-section-newsfeed/","name":"Newsfeed"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4721199/google-april-fools-day-pranks-jokes/","name":"Google Just Unveiled 'Google Gnome.' It's an April Fools' Gag"}}]}] ```