This Video of Cats Watching Dominos Fall Is the Most Soothing Thing We've Ever Seen

Emily Schroeder
·2 min read
7
cat watching dominos
cat watching dominos

Courtesy of Cat Navi Desk / YouTube

Ah, the beginning of pandemic life, when we dabbled in bread-making, new musical instruments, and even organizing our closets. It was ... not great. (I mean, remember Tiger King?) Thankfully, this Japanese YouTube account was flexing some creative muscles, giving us the immensely satisfying Cats and Dominos.

The Cat Navi Desk video begins with an adorable brown tabby cat, Bururu, kicking-off a colorful domino chain reaction. The cascading dominos pass by a black-and-white cat, Beruru, who's transfixed from their perch in a basket. The dominos then arrive at a kind of Rube Goldberg machine, where Bururu is back to watch.

Then the suspense arrives. The chain of dominos momentarily stops at a dish with a thin line of food across it, designed for Beruru to Hoover it up from left to right, setting off the next line of dominos in the process. We have to wait an excruciating 32 seconds for the next dominos to fall, which only happens when Beruru goes back to make sure they didn't miss any bits of food.

RELATED: Meet the Talented Quincy, a Ping-Pong Playing Cat

Both cats watch the dominos go through a few more tricks, helping along the way. The video ends with the long string of rainbow dominos landing on a call bell, triggering two automatic cat food dispensers to release food. Phew! That's a lot of work for a kitty dinner!

Fans of the felines left close to 20,000 comments, weighing in on the floor cleanliness, intelligence and manners of the cats, and simplicity of the footage (only the quiet sound of dominos falling). Which brings up an interesting phenomenon: ASMR (autonomous sensory meridian response).

RELATED: 150 Cool Cat Names For Your Feline Friend

That's the "physical tingling sensation" people feel when they hear "soft, repetitive sounds." Examples? The sound of pages being slowly turned in a book, the act of chewing gum, and, potentially, the repeated sound of dominos as they topple in neat little rows. Did it qualify as ASMR for the 50 million people who watched the video? Maybe not. But it's still quite an impressive take on the game... and greatly soothing to watch!