DragonVale was released world-wide by Backflip Studios on September 14, 2011.
Ever since then, the DragonVale developers would occasionally make April fools jokes around April 1st, with Backflip Studios celebrating it during 2012 and 2013, and Deca Games celebrating it each year since 2021.
2012[]
On April 1st, Backflip Studios posted on their Facebook Feed about a "brand new" Invisible Dragon. The dragon in the post did not have an appearance, had an element, represented by a question mark, that did not exist, and apparently costed 
2,100 to purchase. This dragon never made into DragonVale, but was eventually released into its sister game, DragonVale World.
2013[]
Backflip Studios added the Motley Dragon for April fools, which could be bred by using any two dragons regardless of their elements.
It was available to breed or buy from March 28th, 2013 to April 19th, 2013 totaling 19 days.
The Motley Dragon returns every year for April fools beginning in 2019, keeping its availability consistent from March 31st to April 11th.
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2021[]
DECA Games added the Dargon Dragon into the game to celebrate April fools. Similarly to the Motley Dragon, the Dargon Dragon could be bred by using any two dragons, regardless of their elements.
It was available to breed or buy from April 1st, 2021 to April 5th, 2021 totaling 4 days.
The Dargon Dragon now returns every year for April fools beginning in 2021, from March 31st to April 11th.
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2022[]
On March 31, 2022, DECA Games added in a brand new loading screen into the game to celebrate April fools, featuring the Dargon Dragon and Motley Dragon.
50+ new loading screen messages were temporarily added:
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A select few of the April Fool's loading screen messages would later become a permanent addition:
- The zazzberries taste like zazzberries!
- Are the bushes we remove regular bushes or Dargons in disguise?
- Tip from the fire dragons - stay hydrated!
- Dragons can have a little salami as a treat.
2023[]
On April 1, 2024, to celebrate April Fools' Day, the Dargon Dragon made an appearance on A Thawsome Spring's event island. Players were given a push notification which mentioned that "a wild Dargon Dragon has escaped!" onto the island. This lasted until the Dargon Dragon left the market on April 11, 2023.
The loading screen messages from the previous year also returned to the game for the duration.
2024[]
On April 1, 2024, the loading screen which first appeared for April Fool's Day 2022 returned.
Some new loading screen messages were temporarily added and some from prior April Fools Day loading screen message returned.
Other previous loading screen messages from April Fools Day 2022 did not return this year.
New Messages
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Returning Messages
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- Some of the previous loading screen messages changed slightly.
- "Mesmer Dragon was voted prettiest by the community." became "Mesmer Dragon was voted prettiest by the community again."
- "Motley is now 90% off, with an even higher breeding chance!" became "Motley is now with en even higher breeding chance!"
- "Self destructing in..." became "Self destructing in 3..2.."
- "Actively looking at the Nursery's timers makes eggs hatch faster." became "Staring at the Nursery's timer makes eggs hatch faster."
- "Lololololololol" became "lololololololol".
2025[]
On April 1, 2025, DECA Games added in a brand new loading screen into the game to celebrate April fools, in addition to releasing the Legit Dragon.
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Some new loading screen messages were temporarily added and some from prior April Fools Day loading screen message returned.
Other previous loading screen messages from April Fools Day 2022 and 2024 did not return this year.
New Messages
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Returning 2022 Messages
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Returning 2024 Messages
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- One of the previous loading screen messages changed slightly.
- "Mesmer Dragon was voted prettiest by the community." became "Mesmer Dragon was voted prettiest by the community again." and then became "Mesmer Dragon was voted prettiest by the community yet again."
Gallery[]
| 2022 Loading Screen Messages
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2024 Loading Screen Messages
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| 2025 Loading Screen Messages (New Messages) |
2025 Loading Screen Messages (Former Messages) |
Notes[]
- The first April Fools Day Dragon, Motley Dragon, has a buy price of
123, the second April Fools Day Dragon, Dargon Dragon, has a buy price of 456, and the third April Fools Day Dragon, Legit Dragon, has a buy price of 789.
- The numerals "1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9" are the numerals if the buy price numerals for all three are placed in order of the dragon release order.
- The messages "Once upon a time..." and "...there was a dragon." seem to be two parts of the same sentence.
- The loading screen for April Fools Day 2025 resembles the loading screen for the Kaleni in Candy Land event; the ongoing event at the time of April Fools Day 2025.
Possible References
- The load screen message "Silly rabbit, treats are for dragons!" is a reference to an old Trix ad campaign.
- The message "With 10 obsidian dragons you can make a portal to the rift." is a reference to nether portals in Minecraft.
- The message "Chuck would chuck as much wood as a chuck could chuck if a chuck could chuck wood." is a reference to the tongue twister How much wood would a woodchuck chuck.
- The message "I like honuhonus." is likely a reference to the meme I Like Turtles, since the Honuhonu Dragon is based on a sea turtle. It could also refer to the dragon's description, as it mentions a young wizard who could only say the words "I like honuhonus" after being interviewed about the dragon.
- The messages "Yellow trees?" and "Green trees?" refer to the Yellow Tree and Small Tree decorations, and likely reference players being confused when the Yellow Tree decoration turns green if the weather is set to snow.
- The message "If a tree dragons falls over in the forest, does it make a sound?" is a reference to the thought experiment If a tree falls in a forest and no one is around to hear it, does it make a sound?
- The message "NOT THE BEES!" is referencing the meme of the same name (here).
- The message "All your vale are belong to us!" references the old meme all your base are belong to us.
- The message "Dragons can have a little salami as a treat" may reference the meme "Cats can have a little salami"
- The message "Paths? Where we're going, we don't need paths." likely references a quote from Back to the Future: "Roads? Where we're going, we don't need roads."
- The message "This Dragon will MAW you" references the Maw Dragon, and uses its name as a corruption of the word 'maul'.
- The message "Press space to jump" references how in most PC games, the default control to jump is the space bar.
- The message "Tip: " could reference a past bug that caused all the text in the game to disappear, leaving infoboxes with just their header. The former glitch can be seen here as a post from u/GluttonousGuzzy on Reddit.
- Certain messages, such as "Mesmer Dragon was voted prettiest by the community", "Umbra means light", and "Kairos forgot what time it is", are meant to be ironic. In actuality:
- The Mesmer Dragon hold the current record for being the lowest-rated dragon by the community.
- The word 'umbra' means shadow, specifically that of the moon's during a total solar eclipse.
- It makes no sense for Kairos, the legendary dragon of time, to lose track of time.
- The push notification "A Wild Dargon has escaped!" is a reference to the common Pokémon encounter phrase: "A Wild [Pokémon's Name] appeared!"
- The message "*All these squares make a circle." may be a reference to how the DragonVale Standard Islands are meant to look circular, but have square boxes in grids to place content on it, or it may be a reference to Dragon Ball Z Abridged.
- The messages "Once upon a time..." and "...there was a dragon." may be a reference to how the phrase "Once upon a time there was a..." which start numerous fables, folktales, and myths.
- The message "The zazzberries taste like zazzberries!" may be a reference to the quote "The snozberries taste like snozberries!" from the novel Charlie and the Chocolate Factory by Roald Dahl.
- It may be a reference to the quote "The strawberries taste like strawberries, and the snozzberries taste like snozzberries." from the 1971 film adaptation of the novel; Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory.
- The message "Next up: Minced Meat Dragon!" may be a reference to how some players expressed that the Blossom Dragon looked like minced meat.
- The message "We try to release a few Leek Dragons with each event." may be a reference to how content leaks for events in DragonVale have occurred; especially notable with the Flower Festival which had 15 content items leaked.
- The message "The new Superultragigatat will cover the entire screen." may be a reference to how the Omegatat covers a huge portion of the player's screen.
- The message "Evil Deca: let us give this dragon a normal name." may be a reference to some of the names DECA Games has been giving dragons such as: Morphimagus Dragon, PonkiPong Dragon, and Jumpiplop Dragon.
- DECA Games responded to this inquiry in an AUA on November 16, 2022 with "We pick the names mostly basing ourselves on their designs. PonkiPong are the two dragons and relates to the bouncing they do, Jumpiplop is again the action and the sound of jumping in the water, and we wanted it to sound goofy because of their circus theme, and for Morphimagus the reason was that it morphs into a mage hat."
- The message "DragonVale MMORPG when?" may be a reference to numerous players asking DECA Games for a DragonVale MMORPG or game features found in a Massively multiplayer online role-playing game.
- The message "The entire Busby movie script." may be a reference to the meme of the Bee Movie and the copypasta internet meme of the "The entire Bee Movie script".
- The message "Once upon a time in a vale far far away." may be a reference to a combination of the fairy tale and folk tale opening Once upon a time... and the Star Wars opening crawl beginning with "A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away..."
- The message "You just lost the game." may be a reference to the mind game known as "The Game" and how people have to announce "I lost the game" verbally or in another way such as a photo with a sign posted on social media.
- The message "RAGGLE FRAGGLE" may be a reference to a The Grim Adventures of Billy & Mandy and how it is used as "a term to express anger" or "what one says when sneaking up on one another" according to Urban Dictionary as originated in this scene posted on YouTube.
- The message "Now we can devour treats together." may be a reference from a part of the game Elden Ring which has a playable part linked here on YouTube which has the quote "Now we can devour the gods together!"
- The message "Meanwhile, the Elder dragons have been enjoying eating stuff and want MORE!" may be a reference to the viral Youtube video history of japan, which features the line, "Meanwhile, Japan has been enjoying conquering stuff and wants MORE!"
- The message "Bingo will now require unreleased dragons too." may be a reference to the common bug where unreleased dragons will be displayed in the Bingo mini-game.
- The message "Dragon Draw is totally working now!" may be a reference to the common bug where the Dragon Draw can crash the game and how the Summoning Circle with Dragon Draw has been under maintenance since October 9, 2024.
- The message "I love Chocalate Lolipops." may be a reference to the misspelling of the event tiers during Kaleni in Candy Land.
- The message "Warning" may be a reference to the game recently having an error message with "Warning" as the only text.
- The message "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xECUrlnXCqk" is a link to a two-second video meme title "That's the Joke" from a 1995 episode of The Simpsons said by the character Rainer Wolfcastle and later became a meme.
- More information at: https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/thats-the-joke
- The message "What's that in the sky? Is it an eclipse, is it a black hole? No, it's a hooded dragon." may be a reference to how at times when scrolling the game glitches and show a huge Hooded Dragon tail on the screen.
- The message "00111010 00110011" is a binary representation of ASCII text which converts to ":3" which is a emoticon for a smiling cat.
- The message "Ol' Zilla was hopping around, in the Vale like a big playground. Then Nogard the Grey and Nogard the White came out of nowhere lightning fast." is a reference to the novelty song The Ultimate Showdown of Ultimate Destiny by Neil Cicierega, better known as Lemon Demon.
- The message "Cactus dragons don't like being pinged" is a reference to an admin in the official DragonVale Discord server who liked Cactus Dragons, and detested being pinged in conversations.
- The message "Lavalochs will just go anywhere, huh?" refers to how the Lavaloch Dragon can be in any habitat its elements allow, as well as being able to be in a habitat the Liveloch Dragon was in before evolving it into the Lavaloch Dragon.
- The message "Would you kindly..." may be a reference to a quote from the video-game BioShock which later became a meme.
- The message "Dargon dragon jokes tend to drag on." may be referring to how "dragon" and "drag on" use the same letters.
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