I once had a girlfriend who was a bit of a practical joker: knowing my severe arachnophobia, she liked to wake me up in the middle of the night by screaming, "John! You're covered in spiders!" Then I'd wake up, start screaming and, while she chortled in laughter, spend the next five minutes running around the bedroom in a circle, swatting myself. Yet every practical joker soon finds themselves in a cried-wolf situation: my girlfriend's happened when she tried to wake me up when I actually was covered in spiders and found herself thoroughly dumped the next day by a swollen, purple golem covered in medicinal salve and with an IV of anti-venom hooked up to both arms.
All practical jokers deserve their comeuppance. That's all there is to it.Still, trying to prank pranksters usually ends badly. For example, look at this Fire Box anti-prankster device. If a prankster pulls the alarm, they find themselves handcuffed to the device. Of course, if there's an actual fire going on, you won't catch the prankster: all you'll get is a charred fire alarm with a gnawed-off human arm dangling from the cuff.
Fire Box Traps Pranksters [Modern Mechanix]
