Watch the ball
Watch the ball
Watch the ball, follow the cups, then pick where it ended up.
One of three cups is lifted to reveal a ball, then the cups shuffle around.
When the shuffle stops, tap the cup you think hides the ball.
Get it right and the next round starts with more, faster swaps. Get it wrong and it's game over.
Goal: chain correct guesses as long as you can.
The classic mistake is trying to watch the ball; you cannot, because it is hidden the instant the cups drop. Instead, lock your eyes onto the one cup that started with the ball and never let go of it, following that single cup through every swap like a hawk tracking one bird in a flock.
Use a soft, wide focus rather than a tense stare, because the cups move too fast for sharp tracking and peripheral vision keeps up better. Ignore the decoy cups entirely — your only job is to not lose your one cup during a crossover, which is exactly where the swaps try to trick you. As the rounds speed up, do not panic and guess; if you genuinely lose track, commit to your last confident position rather than switching at the final second, since a calm best-guess beats a flustered one.