Pokemon Go

Pokemon Go, one of the most popular smartphone games in history, began as a Google joke. Back in 2014, the company's annual April Fool's hoax was to introduce Pokemon that you had to capture on Google Maps. People were so taken with the concept that Pokemon Go, an augmented reality game, was created as a result. Ditto will spawn in large numbers throughout the day, taking the form of numerous Pokémon. You might catch a different Pokémon only to have the game exclaim, "Oh?" and it turn into the pink blob. You can also acquire a single Field Research job from spinning Poké Stops: Capture three Transform Pokémon.

No one could have guessed how huge the prank would become when it was first played. The app went live in 2016 and earned more than $4 million on the first day. That amounted to $600 million at the end of three months. Numbers fell in 2017 and it appeared that the game was dying, but history demonstrates that this is not the case. In reality, in-app transactions will have reached $904 million by 2021. That's a great joke.

• Founded: July 6, 2016
• Platforms: iOS, Android, iPadOS
• Publisher: Niantic
  
• Website: https://pokemongolive.com/