The jokes you mentioned cross the line from "little practical joke" to "the person has nothing to do but annoy his co-workers".
Someone left a cup of water precariously balanced on the woman's bathroom door, and you can imagine what happened later.
No, i can't, since i don't know if any of the woman carried a company laptop when entering the room.
A coworker left a note on a manager's chair that said "Tack" after a disagreement.
Very grown up.
Another hid a potato in a colleagues desk, which was discovered months later by the odor.
What a jerk. So people in the office suffered bad smell for some month, an potentially the potato juice sapped to the other things in the desk and it took an hour of cleaning and potentially every bodies time looking for the source. this is intentionally wasting company time.
Some unknown person periodically places sticky notes all over other's cubicles in colorful patterns and mosaics that take many minutes to remove.
Abuse of work time - many minutes to take away also means many minutes to put these.
There is not often retaliation, as mostly no one knows who does what, but it is creating suspicion and reduces the time individuals work, as they try to figure out who has done what.
If I would be the manager i would get a hidden cam installed for some time (if thats legally allowed), and the first one which I catch would get walked of the plank.
Are these actions common in workplaces, are they acceptable? Many get annoyed, but not for long.
No, they are not. If you have friend who like it, please prank them (and not you colleagues)