Mark Frauenfelder is the founder of Boing Boing and the editor-in-chief of MAKE and Cool Tools. Twitter: @frauenfelder. Come and hear Mark speak at the ALA conference in Chicago on July 1.

  • Ashley Yakeley

    Should try with a non-jingling item in the cups.

    • disqus_JR0alyrZhJ

      Yep. Cat’s not even looking, but watch his ears track the bell.

      • http://profiles.google.com/greeneggsandsamuel Sam Archer

        Exactly.  I was actually able to close my eyes for the fist half of the mixing and figure out which one it was in just listening to which one jingled when she touched it.

        • http://theladyfingers.blogspot.com/ Ladyfingers

           Ladies and gentlemen of the internet, a posting cat has just outed itself.

          • rattypilgrim

             Brava!

        • http://www.facebook.com/people/James-Agenbroad/100002463876063 James Agenbroad

          The difficult part ISN’T getting the cat to know which cup has the bell.  The difficult part is getting the cat to CARE. 

        • Jason’s Robot

          I think the cat knows that when there’s 3 cups, it’s in the middle – and when there’s 4 cups, it’s in the outside-right.
          Watch the ‘mixing’ with the 4 cups.  The person purposefully puts the bell-cup on the outside-right (our left).

    • rattypilgrim

      Cat: “Mon Dieu, it has come to this. A cold floor. The scraping of metal on tile and the insatiable appetite of my tormentors for mindless repetition. They are so easily appeased it is pathetic. How much longer must I endure this vacuum of all things meaningful? Merde, merde, merde, et merde.” (Apologies to Henri the cat)

    • http://twitter.com/AwesomeRobot AwesomeRobot

      Seriously, that cat is completing a task that any 2 year old child could master.

      • http://ae4rv.com/ royaltrux

         But the cat is only one year old.

        • Maria Pranzo

           And, ya know, A CAT.

    • http://benatkin.com/ Ben Atkin

      I still think someone’s playing with the cat’s butt, like in Trololo Cat.

    • Jerril

       Humans use our primary sense, I don’t see why the cat shouldn’t get to use it’s primary sense. Cats can’t see clearly due to the reflective layer at the back of their eyeballs – it’s like having vaseline smeared on your glasses.

  • LYNDON

    One from the related videos where the human is a bit tricker and the cat a bit more determined https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=QrlTijuhVOA

    • http://twitter.com/ErnestValdemar Ernest Valdemar

      I just got suckered, via YouTube related videos, into a good half hour of soldiers returning from Iraq being reunited with their dogs. I’m not surprised they don’t have videos of Iraq War soldiers being reunited with their cats. A solid three days of being studiously ignored, followed by a two-week montage of shit in shoes and half-dead small prey in the bed.

      Cats have their own language, and it consists of blood, viscera, shit, and urine.

      “I missed you, Daddy. Please enjoy this shit-filled slipper and half-dead tailless squirrel.”“`

      • rattypilgrim

         And dirty looks.

      • http://sr105.com/ Harvey

        I left my cat with my parents for 3 weeks while I did the post-college Euro-trip. When I got back, I whistled once, and the cat ran out of a bedroom towards me at full speed. She then ran up my body with her claws until she got to my chest purring as loud as she could.

        • http://twitter.com/ErnestValdemar Ernest Valdemar

           Oh, I had a cat like that once, Harvey. I know it happens. I just don’t think it’s typical. And every time Baby was enthusiastic to see me after an absence, the girls would beat him up.

    • Jason’s Robot

      Yeah.  The ‘game’ in your link is more legit.
      I’m thinking this cat in the vid above, when there’s 3 cups, knows to pick the middle one and, when there’s 4 cups, knows to pick the outside-right one (the cat’s left). Watch how the person purposefully puts the bell-cup on the outside-right when there’re 4 cups.

  • http://twitter.com/ErnestValdemar Ernest Valdemar

    It would be interesting to train the cat against the fair game, and then introduce sleight-of-hand and misdirection. (I picture open claws on the back of someone’s hand.)

  • xian

    Yo, where da hell’s mah treat?

  • Warren_Terra

    It’s going a bit too slowly, or the camera angle is too good – I could track the cup by eye, which in viewing other examples of the “game” I’ve found that I suck at.

    • Boundegar

      Wait, a cat plays 3-card monte, and you complain the human didn’t make it hard enough?  Either you’re one tough audience or a dog person.

      • Antinous / Moderator

        Or a dog.

        • http://tryingsense.blogspot.com/ R_Young

          Wouldn’t be the first time.

      • Warren_Terra

        I’m impressed that a cat can be trained to play 3-card monte; it’s a real feat. I’m just saying that once you assume that first, impressive accomplishment (of convincing the cat to follow or otherwise pick out the right cup), that the cups are moving slowly or simply enough to make the task less difficult than I’d normally expect. Put another way: the cat is playing 3-card monte, which is hugely impressive. But it’s not clear from the demonstration that the cat is displaying an uncanny ability to follow the cup in a hugely difficult test, which is something I’d rather expected from the post title. I do realize this is running afoul of Samuel Johnson’s assessment of the dancing bear, but still …

        • tubacat

           I think it was “dog walking upright” (Samuel Johnson)

        • giantasterisk

          I don’t think the cat was trained.

  • Karen Newton

    Wonder how he would be at 3-card Monte?

  • GawainLavers

    One cup has catnip taped to the inside top…

    • rattypilgrim

       The insides of the cups were never shown which is the oldest trick in the book.

  • http://pulse.yahoo.com/_2X6OHAN7GLVLAIP4QLECKD3NY4 morgane

    they grow opposable thumbs and we’re DOOMED!

  • pjcamp

    Human doesn’t understand how to play the shell game:

    “The operator’s trick is sleight of hand. A skilled operator can remove a pea from under any shell (or shells) and place it (or not) under any shell (or shells) undetected by a mark. So it is never of any benefit for the mark to watch the movement of either the shells or the operator’s hands.” http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shell_game

    Let’s see the cat beat this version (starts at 3:33): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=44evqucHc_s

    • retchdog

      i’ve read about a trick around this. it will work at most one time and takes some nerve. i’ve never done it.

      play as usual, but instead of picking the one shell “with” the pea, very quickly and assertively turn over the two shells without the pea, thus indicating the remaining shell as your choice. the idea is that they’ll be forced to admit it was a con and give you your winnings. or they might beat the shit out of you. one or the other.

      oh, never mind. that’s in the wikipedia article. figures.

    • SamSam

      One of the main features of the shell game is to slowly build up your confidence with easier, non-tricky rounds, waiting for you to start laying down bigger bets. No one would ever play it if no one was ever seen to be winning.

      Trust me, either this cat is about to get seriously scammed, or this cat is simply the shill who appears to be winning, in order to trick the stupid dog into thinking this is legit.

      “Hey guys! Hey guys! Hey guys! What you playing? Hey guys! What you playing? Oooh, a cup game? I love cup games! I love cup games! Can I play can I play can I play can I play please please please please? Squirrel!“

      • pjcamp

         My border collie is smarter than your honor cat.

  • http://twitter.com/HubrisSonic HubrisSonic

    What’s the point? That cat don’t got no dough! 

    • Antinous / Moderator

      Cats operate an extortion economy.

  • Milo

    Meanwhile, our cat is still crapping on the floor where his litter box used to be.

    • CH

      He/she is trying to train you to Put. It. Back. And you are failing miserably.

      • http://twitter.com/anonotwit anonotwit

        Some humans take longer to train than others.

        • Milo

          It’s true. I was a cat in my previous life.

  • http://thisisonlya.blogspot.com robcat2075

    Awww…

  • lorq

    Nice comic timing in the pause just before the cat makes a selection.

    • Professor59

      That pause is the cat waiting for the annoying human to go away.

  • http://twitter.com/Baanrit Baanrit

    Actually, if I am not mistaken, the correct result was always in the same place. In the middle of three an then at the end of four. 

  • http://www.facebook.com/ian.brewer1 Ian Brewer

    Cats are smarter than we think, they’ve already taken over the internet.

  • arcduke