April Fools Updates are updates that have happened on the first of April each year starting from 2018.

As part of April 2026: Sky Jail, the Jailbreak map had terrain and water replaced with clouds as vehicle spawns around the map were swapped with the free UFO for everyone to fly for free.

Overview

These updates usually include major map and theme changes, random NPCs, and other strange differences. As of now, there have been seven April Fools Updates.

List of April Fools Updates

April 2018: Alien World

On April 1st, 2018, much of Jailbreak's aesthetic features and terrain was changed into an alien-like world, with any brown or yellow colors switched to purple. Alien NPCs could also be found across the map. The sky also turned into outer space, making it impossible to determine time without a clock. Moreover, the NPCs of asimo3089 and badcc inside the Gas Station and Donut Shop were altered significantly, with asimo3089 flipped upside down and sporting multiple limbs, while badcc grew another head and had his name reversed to ccdab. The changes lasted for a week and were reverted back to the normal map in the Back to Earth update. A UFO was added, along with the Meteor. They were located in the Mountainside Town until the Military Update, in which they were moved to the Military Base.

April 2019: DiscoBreak

On April 1st, 2019, the game received a miscellaneous update which contained a large portal just above the Black Hawk's height limit. The portal was merely aesthetic and randomly dropped large colored hexagon-shaped particles. Later, the game received a huge April Fools Update, which made a massive impact on the gameplay.

The thumbnail and icon changed, like most of the updates, but the game was renamed "DiscoBreak", with the word "PRISON" after, because the previously scheduled update was the Prison Update. The sky became vibrant, rainbow-colored squares, and most of the areas in the map were changed to Chrome colors. Both the cargo and passenger trains were changed to a Thomas The Tank Engine model. Vehicles also looked more vibrant than normal. A new code was added, DISCO, which awarded players with $7,000.

April 2020: Character Distortions

This April Fools Update was significantly smaller in comparison to previous ones, likely due to the developers focusing mainly on creating the 2020 Live Event, which was set to release three days later. In this update, the main focus was character distortions, which would occur when players spawned. There were seven variations, including, but not limited to being a fat avatar, having a big-headed avatar, and a mini avatar. According to Badimo, there was even one that caused a player's head to keep growing until it fell off, but it had a very low chance of occurring.

In addition to wacky avatars, this update also added headshots, which caused shots to deal 10 extra damage to an enemy player, and a new respawn effect, which made players glow with rays of light for a few seconds.

Like any other April Fools update, the game thumbnail changed to reflect the theme. The regular police and prisoner characters had warped heads, and "APRIL FOOLS" was placed over the image.

April 2021: MoonBreak

Jailbreak changed to "MoonBreak" in April 2021, with the thumbnail showing police officers and prisoners wearing an astronaut helmet. The atmosphere was changed to black, making it once again impossible to tell the time without a clock. In addition, Mars was visible in the sky. Gravity was also slightly reduced, allowing players to jump higher and cars to stay in the air longer when flying. Aerial vehicles would also fly up into the air when disabled instead of down, defying gravity.

April 2022: ToyBreak

Jailbreak's 2022 iteration of April Fools was "ToyBreak", which involved every vehicle in the game being scaled down massively. Players remained normal sized, resulting in their avatars being noticeably larger than every vehicle, causing the avatar's upper body to stick out of the top of most of them. This shrinkage also causes most vehicles’ launch and acceleration to become uncontrollably fast or absurdly slow. The MCL36 was particularly broken, to the point of reaching a top speed of 800MPH.

During Season 11: Toys and Collectibles, the vehicle prize unlocked at Level 8 was based off the mini-Camaro from the April Fools update. The vehicle, named the Tiny Toy, featured only one seat, and a convertible roof.

April 2024: HorrorBreak

On April 2024, Jailbreak changed to "HorrorBreak", with this change being reflected in both the game's icon and thumbnail. The entire map had a strong greyscale filter, with little color being visible. Additionally, figures (flat, motionless textures) would briefly appear in front of players in many locations, including but not limited to the Sewers, Mansion, and the Prison Police Station. These appearances would be accompanied by a stinger sound effect, with the intention of scaring the player. Despite their frightening appearance, these figures would not interact directly with the player, and would instead simply fade out after a few seconds. Most of these figures were completely stationary, but the figures present in the Prison Police Station and the Sewers would move in a straight line as they faded out. Other small changes included all of the map's water having been turned red, some ambient horror themed sound effects having been audible in the background, and the moon having been changed into an eye.

April 2025: Pixel World

For April 2025, Jailbreak underwent a retexture, temporarily replacing the terrain and leaves of trees with pixelated textures, resembling Minecraft. An unique sound is also played when the player dies. The thumbnail featured the prisoner character's head replaced with a yellow block head wearing a pair of shades, and black vertical lines covering the background.

April 2026: Sky Jail

On April 2026, the Jailbreak map had its terrain and water replaced with clouds. Many vehicle spawns around the map were swapped with UFOs, which were made free for the event.

Special death and server messages were also created for the event. These include:

• When the player falls under the map:
  • "You fell through the clouds!"
  • "[System] ☠️ [Player] fell through the clouds!"

• When the player dies from being hit by a train:
  • "You missed the crossing tutorial!"
  • "[System] ☠️ [Player] missed the crossing tutorial!"

• When the player dies from getting squashed by Power Plant hydraulic presses:
  • "You were pancaked by engineering!"
  • "[System] ☠️ [Player] was pancaked by engineering!"

• When a player dies from robbery lasers, electric fences, lava:
  • "You licked forbidden spaghetti!"
  • "[System] ☠️ [Player] licked forbidden spaghetti!"

• When a player dies from getting hit by lightning, or zapped in a Private Server:
  • "You were aggressively high-fived by the sky!"
  • "[System] ☠️ [Player] was aggressively high-fived by the sky!"

• When a player dies from fires:
  • "You were overcooked!"
  • "[System] ☠️ [Player] was overcooked!!"

• When a player dies from Tanker or C4 explosion:
  • "You turned into confetti!"
  • "[System] ☠️ [Player] turned into confetti!!"

• When a player dies from combat or turrets:
  • "You were ventilated!"
  • "[System] ☠️ [Player] was ventilated!"

• When a player resets their character:
  • "You rage quit!"
  • "[System] ☠️ [Player] rage quit!"

Gallery

• 2018
• 2019
• 2020
• 2021
• 2022
• 2024
• 2025
• 2026

2018: Alien Invasion

badcc in the Donut Shop, with the left head showing his name backwards.

The Water Tower leaking Rocket Fuel.

2019: DiscoBreak

asimo3089 with an afro.

badcc with an afro.

Thomas the Passenger Train.

A detailed front view of Thomas the Passenger Train.

The chrome Water Tower.

2020: Character Distortions

The Jailbreak Icon on April Fools Day 2020.

The fat variation.

The thin variation.

The thin variation at a different angle.

The giant variation.

The mini variation.

The mini variation with its torso glitched to be normal.

The big head variation.

Another angle of the big head variation.

The small head variation.

Another angle of the small head variation.

2021: Moonbreak

The Jailbreak Icon on April Fools Day 2021.

Other Event Images

A player wearing the Astronaut Helmet.

The giant red sun in the skybox.

The moon, along with the aurora's.

2022: ToyBreak

The Jailbreak Icon on April Fools Day 2022.

Mini Vehicles

A mini Black Hawk on the pad of the Military Base.

A player inside a mini Camaro at the Police HQ.

A mini Monster Truck with glitched tires.

A mini Rattler with its broken fragments on the ground.

A player's avatar glitched in a mini Dirtbike.

A mini Bank Truck at the Bank.

A mini Torpedo. Shotgun for scale.

2024: HorrorBreak

The Jailbreak Icon on April Fools Day 2024.

The Jailbreak Thumbnail on April Fools Day 2024.

Event Images

The Prison with the greyscale filter

The pond outside the Prison. Notice the red tinted water.

The Moon, replaced with a disturbing looking eye.

The added greyscale filter stacking with the normal filter applied on death.

Jumpscares

The figure found in the Sewers escape. (only at night)

The figure found in the Prison Police Station. (only at night)

The figure found in the Donut Shop.

The figure found in the Prison parking lot. (only at night)

One of the two figures found in the Volcano Criminal Base.

The other of the two figures found in the Volcano Criminal Base.

The figure found in the Power Plant.

The figure found in the Mansion.

The figure found in the Oil Rig.

2025: Pixel World

The Jailbreak Icon on April Fools Day 2025.

The Jailbreak Thumbnail on April Fools Day 2025.

2026: Sky Jail

A general view of Sky-Jail.

A view of the Sky-Jail minimap.

The Sky-Jail (Jailbreak) Icon on April Fools Day 2026.

The Sky-Jail (Jailbreak) Thumbnail on April Fools Day 2026.

The UFO in Garage thumbnail showing “Freeee” on April Fools Day 2026

Trivia

• During the 2020 April Fools Update, the arms and torso of a player's avatar would revert to normal when they got arrested or changed their attire, whether by clicking police clothing or escaping Prison and removing their prison jumpsuit.
  • When having the mini distortion, crawling would revert only the torso.
• During the 2020 April Fools Update, there was a very small chance that a player's head would not stop growing until it fell off of their body, killing them as a result.
• The 2018 April Fools update was the only April Fools update with build-up updates before the main update took place.
• The 2018 April Fools Update is currently the only update of this type that has added a new vehicle.
• April Fools updates are usually given with hints. (an alien for 2018, a large portal for 2019)
  • The 2020 and 2021 updates are exceptions, as they were created at the last-minute.
• Jailbreak did not have an April Fools Update in 2017, as the game was not released to the public until April 21st, which is after April Fools. Even if it was released before April Fools, the developers likely would not have put out an update as it was too early in the game.
  • There was also no April Fools Update in 2023, as no update or announcement was released.
    • The reasoning for this was confirmed by asimo3089 on Twitter, being that he was out of town, badcc was doing performance work,^[1] and CritStyx was on vacation.^[2]
• In the three-year anniversary miscellaneous update, the 2020 Character Distortions was bought back for the day.
• asimo3089 stated on Twitter that even though they were working on the 5 Year Anniversary Live Event, they managed to release an April Fools update, albeit a small one.
• In the 2024 April Fools Update, Frankenstein's Monster (1931 Movie Edition) from Mary Shelley is used in the thumbnail and icon.
• The greyscale filter and ambient sounds of the 2024 April Fools Update were last minute additions, added after the main update was announced.^[3]
  • When the player died, the greyscale filter would stack with the slight greyscale filter that already existed for the death screen. This resulted in a vibrant hueshift effect.

References