Some good-natured fun at a friend’s expense is always a nice way to pass the time, so with April Fool’s Day just around the corner, prepare yourself properly.

Follow these five basic steps and you will master the art of the prank—yes, it is an art, as you’ll see, that has never been more alive and sophisticated.

First, strategically pick your mark. Whether it is revenge you seek or simply a nice chuckle, it is important to begin the mischievous art of pranks by selecting a qualified target. Sam Bartlett, author of The Best of Stuntology, says to avoid targeting gullible fools.

“How lame is it to pull a prank on an oblivious person?” Bartlett says. “It’s like shooting fish in a barrel. Go after a crafty person!”

However, many times your target will present itself to you as was the case of a recent prank masterfully created by the Mountain Dewds, a group of male student pranksters who share two houses near campus.

The Dewds were seeking to get redemption after their neighbors ambushed several of them with water balloons. Soaking wet and slightly perturbed, the Dewds knew they must respond.

They didn’t want to hastily construct their retaliation so they properly prepared and personalized their prank.

Adam Lauridsen, Lawrence junior and current member of the Dewd household, says the group wanted to make its revenge a memorable experience for everyone involved.

“We don’t pull a lot of pranks,” Lauridsen says, “but when we do, we make sure it’s awesome. It’s never fun to simply repeat someone else’s work. Our motto is to ‘Go big or don’t go at all.’”

The Dewds chose to add a touch of annoyance with a hint of mind altering experience: They decided to move their neighbors out, or at least, borrow their belongings for a short while.

They knew it wasn’t going to be easy, says Matthew Shaw, Heidelberg, Germany, junior.

“We wanted our revenge to be difficult,” Shaw says. “Something that they couldn’t easily recover from. It took of lot of organization and planning and a lot of guys.”

The Dewds checked schedules and found a time that worked for each member of the house, and made sure their unsuspecting neighbors wouldn’t be home.

You might be wondering how much time they allowed themselves to complete this task: A day? A weekend? Try less than 20 minutes.

“We knew we had to get in and get out,” Shaw says.

When the Dewds were fully prepared, they carried out their plan. The 25 guys—mostly Dewds with a few associates—acted in perfect harmony as if they were an Army platoon orchestrating a valiant mission.

“It was a beautiful experience,” Shaw says. “It was awesome to see them come home to nothing.”

The only mistake the Mountain Dewds made was not recording their tomfoolery. In a world with YouTube, it is important to let everyone in on the fun.

Of course, the Dewds’ neighbors were at first confused, then mad, and finally just annoyed. They wanted their stuff back, which the Dewds had always intended to return, but not until a truce had been negotiated.

Lauridsen says the Dewds decided it was necessary to write up a peace treaty and used the Treaty of San Fransisco as a model. This treaty was signed by the United States and Japan after World War II.

“We wanted a peaceful end to the battle,” Lauridsen says. “It was all in good fun, if we had messed anything up, we were fully prepared to replace it.”

The Dewds recommended the two sides of this prank war meet at the Japanese Peace Garden in Lawrence. Honestly, would there be a more appropriate place?

Despite their neighbors’ refusal to sign the treaty, the Dewds gave up the location of their stuff—a shortage unit in Lawrence—and ended the brief battle.

The Dewds went big and accomplished their goal of altering their neighbors’ reality. They carefully found a mark, prepared their plan, executed it to perfection and came to a peaceful conclusion despite failing to record the fun for everyone. But four out of five isn’t bad.