Cup stacking is a thing. I am going to tell you what it is, and (unless you've already seen it being a thing) you are not going to believe me, and then I am going to show you vids and stuff, and you will be like, "whaaaat?"
Here is the telling-you-what-it-is part. Cup stacking is a competitive
sport -- complete with a governing body and official
tournaments and official
world records and so on -- wherein participants, individually or in teams, arrange groups of three or six or twelve
plastic cups into
pyramids of three or six or ten, then unarrange them and put them back into neat stacks, in specified orders. As fast as they can. Here is
a precocious child teaching you how to do this, and
a group of children doing this faster than you will ever hope to. Time is measured to hundredths of a second, and when cup stackers get a really good time, they freak out with celebratory enjoyment; while if they get a poor time, especially due to cup slippage from a loss of control, they are bummed. It seems to have sprung up in the 90s, and though credit is accorded here and there,
who can really say where such things originate?
One odd note about cup stacking (as if it were not already entirely an odd note on its own). In order to prevent the cups from 'sticking' due to the
vacuum effect of internal
suction, competitors have adopted the use of cups having holes on the bottom to let air through. In other words, they're useless for, you know, pouring a
liquid into to hold them while you walk around, and maybe
thirst for a
drink. But I suppose if it gives some people pleasure to rhythmically stack and unstack cups, who am I to eye that overly oddly?
Okay, yes, after I saw it I went and borrowed some plastic cups from a neighbor and tried my hand at it. I did an awful job of it. Obviously I need to get the right cups and practice for six months.