Getting bored or having too much time? Give these crème de la crème examples of weird websites and apps a go. Good news, they work without the Flash Player!
A QUICK SUMMARY – FOR THE BUSY ONES
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Flash Player, for about 20 years, has enabled weird websites, apps, games, videos, and other time-wasters to work, as you all designers, web app developers and people of the internet know.
Unfortunately, the time has come for Flash Player to retire. Adobe stopped supporting it at the end of 2020. The reason behind this decision is site migration to open web technologies – they are simply faster and have better power-efficiency than Flash. Also, open web technologies will keep us more secure while surfing, banking, or editing sensitive data. So, it’s time to say goodbye, Flash.
At Brainhub, we like to relax and take a break from work with funny and weird websites and applications offered by the internet. We Googled and found a lot of articles like “extremely useless sites,” “random sites,” “useless websites,” “pointless websites,” “time wasters,” “pointless pages”, etc. However, most of the pages and applications listed there are no longer available or require the use of Adobe Flash Player = so these apps will stop working soon.
Partly in shock and partly in despair, we undertook a brave task: we did research on funny and weird websites and apps that still work and will work in the future without the use of Flash Player. Therefore our list of apps is the most up-to-date. So don’t worry – you’ll still be able to waste time and discover weird apps and sites on the internet – just save this list to your bookmarks!
Are you ready to discover and dig up these weird online gems?
Quick, Draw! can be described as a game which uses machine learning for entertainment. In this game you are given a silly, easy idea/word, e.g. “mushroom” and you have to quickly draw it. At the same time a network guesses what are you drawing and asks questions about the shape you are drawing, eg. “is it a spoon?” The more you play, the “smarter” the network becomes.
The game creator’s idea was to let people have fun with A.I., but these visuals are becoming a very important source of knowledge for machine learning improvement.
#link: quickdraw.withgoogle.com
#funfact:
This oldie but goldie (launched in 2004!) ranks quite high among weird websites. ZoomQuilt can be described as an enigmatic and psychedelic never-ending zooming patchwork of fantasy paintings. Viewers can control the speed of the illustration with arrows on the keyboard.
These hypnotic images were created by a team of illustrators from Berlin, led by an artist Nikolaus Baumgarten. They collected and combined their artwork into a waving, infinitely zooming….screensaver. This project, now a website, can be also found as Android Live Wallpaper. You should definitely check it out if you’re looking for inspiration or creative ideas.
#link: zoomquilt.org
#funfact: There is another version of this app, “ZoomQuilt 2”: zoomquilt2.com
Having a bad day? Emotional ups and downs? Something not working and you’re getting frustrated? Yeah…but obviously you shouldn’t (in most cases) scream at work. Well, this page on our weird websites list might just be for you. Just put on your headphones and push the geek BUTTON. You’ll feel instantly relieved.
This classic exclamation “nooooo” closes the Revenge of the Sith when Darth Vader character is no longer the badass darkest villain in the universe and becomes a joke. Compared to his problems – yours may seem less tragic.
#link: nooooooooooooooo.com
#funfact: This button will be perfect in any dire situation in your life, push it as many times as you need.
MapCrunch is not as weird as the rest of these weird websites. It helps you discover random and unfamiliar places around the globe photographed by Google Street View. The user can be virtually transported to any place on Earth and start “exploring” our incredible landscapes and places without traveling.
This website was an inspiration for an online game “MapCrunch Game” where the user has to find a way out from a given location to an airport. Just enter the website, click “hide location”, press “go” and begin a quest to locate an airport (without hints or help).
#link: mapcrunch.com
#funfact: Mapcrunch was invented by Tumblr community and in 2012 usage went up by around 1500% within 24h.
This weird website is like the TV of the future that contains curated content, relevant in the massive online choice of videos that can be frustrating and overwhelming. You can watch content from YouTube without going between channels or wasting time searching for short movies.
This app keeps online consumers weird and content-addicted, but at the same time active by letting them choose what to watch and stop being passive in their watching.
Moreover, this website aims to promote newly discovered, less popular curators with >100 YouTube subscribers. These curators=creators are underrated by algorithms or popular platforms. Neverthink allows them to stand out.
#link: neverthink.tv
#funfact: founded in Finland; Neverthink’s total funding is €8.6M!
Thanks to PointlessSites.com you’ll never be bored again – it’s a perfect time waster. This one aggregates hundreds of pointless weird websites so you don’t have to search for them on your own.
Remember that this is a “pointless” set of sites so that the quality, richness, or particular purpose may be little to non-existent. There is no value, sense, point, or purpose – all these features perfectly describe the content of PointlessSites.com.
#link: pointlesssites.com
#funfact: There’s also a special ranking “TRENDING TOP 40” presenting each month’s top sites. The users are encouraged to vote for in their opinion the best pointless and weird website.
This is another great collection of so-called “early web humor”. This collection gathers all the pointless weird websites on the internet. When you enter the site, the text “TAKE ME TO A USELESS WEBSITE” with a big pink button “PLEASE” greets you. This button takes you to one of a million strange and useless websites. Instantly.
#link: theuselessweb.com
#funfact: Attention or warning: you can spend a lot more time than you expect on this weird website. It is said that people generally spend at least 30 min of their precious time there.
This is a totally 90s, geeky website. Simply described: operating Windows 93 in your browser. It is a project made in 2014/2015 by Jankenpopp and Zombectro that gives users a nostalgic OS experience. You’ll see the classic, retro Windows 95 desktop with multiple, well-known icons with funny, reshaped names.
Get a blast from the past, a different pixel-full universe and deeply immerse yourself in this system. There is everything – content such as the classic trash bin, game emulators (GameBoy), pixel editors, etc. Internet Explorer is “Cat Explorer”, while Paint is called “Pixel” and a bunch of Clippies (those Office Assistants) show up in a totally random way, surprising the user.
#link: v1.windows93.net
#funfact: This site has an embedded software emulator so you can actually play a game, e.g. Wold3D or use the LSDJ.
We all know that the higher the result in Google the more concrete, desirable, and comprehensive the information. Have you ever thought about the last result? About the 288652224 link on the internet on a given topic? Feeling Unlucky Today will give you the answer – it shows you the last Google search result.
For example, after typing “astronomy” and pressing enter or clicking “search”, we saw confetti dropped to celebrate the chosen…word. And as a result, we got a link to an international journal “Astronomy & Astrophysics”, publishing papers on astronomy. To cut the story short: it’s just another chance to waste time online and to satisfy your curiosity about the last Google result.
#link: feelingunlucky.today
#funfact: This weird website gets about 440 views every day.
There’s still a lot of hype about beards these days. Bristlr connects those with beards with each other or those who “want to stroke beards”. This mobile app lets you do a social search by location and chat with other bearded people who want to meet or talk to similar people.
It’s like Tinder but for bearded people. This weird website has also added a “gender option” in 2017 – e.g. a user can search for men with beards and interested only in males.
#link: bristlr.com
#funfact: There’s also a blog, started in 2014, where among articles about beards and their charm, you can find stories with hashtag #SuccessStory about couples that actually met on Bristlr’s and even about children that were born out of those relationships.
Everybody loves GIFs – it’s a popular way to show a reaction or an idea when responding to others. GifCities is in fact an animated GIF search engine from the Internet Archive that started as a project celebrating 20 years of web preservation.
It offers you some nerdy, classic GIFs that look more like flashing banners from the 90’s. So if you want to send someone a vintage, original GIF, visit this weird website.
#link: gifcities.org
#funfact: Once upon a time, this website hosted more than 38 million userbuild pages, making it the 3rd most visited platform on the internet.
We, the collective internet users, have at least one thing in common – we love to waste our free time and go crazy about gifs and videos of cats. There’s no doubt about that. Beware – Procatinator has it all. This weird website is simple but brilliant: it gives the visitors an animated gif of a cat accompanied with a special song from YouTube.
The range of cats (kittens, bored cats, active or motionless) and music (jazz, disco, techno mix), as you may imagine, is incomprehensibly vast. Each time there is a different cat. Just click “show me another cat →”. Our result was: procatinator.com/?cat=90 (a looped video of a flying cat in tune with chill techno mix).
#link: procatinator.com
#funfact: It has been enjoyed by maaaaany users since 2011 and is still gaining popularity.
Cat Bounce is another thing for internet cat lovers. And this one is interactive. It can be called a weird website for sure – its main purpose is cat bouncing. On this website you decide how the images of cats bounce. You can control the bounce and the speed. There is also a special button that you absolutely have to click, “make it rain!”.
The website uses Javascript and simulated 2d physics – it allows users to “move” cats according to their mouse movements – so the speed, friction, and bounce are more intense when you use more force.
#link: cat-bounce.com
#funfact: This website was created by an artist and coder from New York, Tara Sinn in 2012.
Can a weird pointless website … have a point or a thousand points? We couldn’t believe it, but it really exists. The whole purpose is to move your mouse cursor and locate it motionless at one point. You’ll get a photo of a person or people pointing exactly where your cursor is located on the screen.
People claim that they’ve never seen the same picture twice.
#link: pointerpointer.com
#funfact: This website even has a topic on Quora about how it works. Check it out here!
Patience is when you wait for something or somebody tirelessly and consequently, remaining calm, never too excited, anxious, or angry. Are you patient? Are your friends patient? Now you can find out.
While waiting for this website to load, you can ruminate and think about the famous phrase “patience is a virtue”. Historians don’t exactly know about its origin. Some say that it was written in Latin by Cato in the 3rd or 4th century, while others attribute these words origin to The Canterbury Tales from 14th century.
#link: patience-is-a-virtue.org
Ever wondered what it feels like to be trapped in a never-ending, trippy vortex of color? Welcome to FallingFalling! This digital playground, created by the artist Rafaël Rozendaal in 2011, features a constantly shifting gradient background paired with a hypnotic sound loop by Gloumouth1. It’s like a zen garden for your eyeballs and eardrums.
#link: https://www.fallingfalling.com/
#funfact: This site is one of over 100 digital masterpieces by Rozendaal. Rozendaal’s work, including this site, has been exhibited in galleries and museums worldwide.
Ever wanted to be welcomed to the ultimate destination on the internet? Enter zombo.com! This legendary site greets you with an enthusiastic, endless monologue promising unlimited possibilities. What can you do there? Absolutely nothing—and that's the charm!
#link: https://zombo.com/
#funfact: The site’s creator, Jason Golas, provided the voiceover, adding a quirky touch. Zombo.com has been around since 1999 and remains unchanged.
This quirky website, created by Vadim Ogievetsky for Annie Albagli, lets you roll your mouse over circles that split into smaller circles, gradually revealing a hidden image of a koala. It's a fun and oddly satisfying way to kill some time.
#link: https://www.koalastothemax.com/
#funfact: The magic happens thanks to D3.js, a powerful JavaScript library.
Ever wondered what it’s like to step into a digital rabbit hole? Check out, an avant-garde, glitchy website by the art duo JODI (Joan Heemskerk and Dirk Paesmans). It’s a chaotic mix of ASCII art, cryptic symbols, and bizarre navigation, designed to disrupt and challenge your perception of the internet.
#link: https://wwwwwwwww.jodi.org/
#funfact: JODI are trailblazers in internet art since the 1990s.
Feeling adventurous but stuck at home? Check out Map Crunch, where you can teleport to a random Google Street View location anywhere in the world! With a click of a button, you'll find yourself exploring remote villages, bustling cities, or scenic landscapes.
#link: https://www.mapcrunch.com/
#funfact: The site randomly selects locations from over 50 countries.
Looking for a piece of internet history? Visit The Million Dollar Homepage, created by Alex Tew in 2005. It's a giant web canvas made up of 1,000,000 pixels, each sold for $1 to fund Tew's education. Advertisers and individuals bought pixels, creating a chaotic mosaic of ads, logos, and quirky images.
#link: http://www.milliondollarhomepage.com/
#funfact: It's a snapshot of internet culture and marketing from the mid-2000s.
This list contains the absolute weirdest websites we could find on the web. Who knows what their point, purpose, or meaning really are. What we do know is that they’re a perfect way to make somebody laugh and are a good way to relax and “reset” your mind during a break.
Have you seen any website as weird as those described above? Let us know! We’d love to expand this list. Also, if you’re a fan of such weird websites and if you giggled at least once while reading this post, feel free to share it with your friends on social media.
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Software development enthusiast with 8 years of professional experience in this industry.
Software development enthusiast with 8 years of professional experience in this industry.
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