Despite spending most of their time lying in a corner or on your lap for most of the time, cats are super smart. Especially when it comes to observing something you simply can not beat them.
The American Curl Cat named Snow loves his shell game or thimblering for that exact reason. When his human starts hiding a ping-pong ball under one of these cups and then shuffle them around, he wont loose the ball, ever.
Maybe it’s the cats inborn hunting skills or just his energy at work, but he always keeps track of where the ball is.
But I’m sure you can beat him… At least it would work for me, if someone is going to put chocolate under the cup… or under all three.