Learn Spanish (Spain): La chica ha vuelto a hacer una broma cruel y él se ha echado a llorar. - The girl has played a cruel prank again and he has burst into tears.

The structure echarse a followed by an infinitive is used to express a sudden, involuntary reaction. You will see it most often with emotional or physical responses like llorar (to cry), reír (to laugh), or correr (to run). Here, it shows that his reaction of crying happened instantly and uncontrollably.

Why do we use ha vuelto a hacer to mean "played... again"?

In Spanish, the formula volver a + infinitive is the most natural way to say that someone does something "again". While you could literally say ha hecho una broma otra vez, using volver a sounds much more fluid and native.

Could I use the verb jugar to say "play a prank"?

No, in Spanish you "make" a joke or prank. The correct verb is hacer (to do/make), giving us hacer una broma. Using jugar here would sound like you are participating in a game or sport.

Why are both verbs in the present perfect (ha vuelto, ha echado) rather than the simple past?

In Spain, the present perfect (pretérito perfecto) is heavily used for actions that happened very recently, or in a timeframe that is not finished yet today. This sentence implies the cruel prank and his crying just happened moments ago.