Pshh that isn't a cat prank. One of my cats literally sets traps for the other cats. He takes rope/ string/ribbon ( he has used a variety of things to do these as this is a daily/ weekly event at times) in his mouth and ties it around the vacuum cleaner, then takes the end of it and pulls it out and then gets one of the other cats favorite toys, puts it on the string he laid out and then goes sits on the couch and waits for the other cat to come back in the room and goes directly for his toy because he noticed the toy has been moved from where he put it, (as that cat acts more like a ferret and he steals things and toys and piles them up in places around the house) That cat, as predicted, he goes for the toy, then pulls on the string and the vacuum cleaner then falls over on his head, and it looks like the cat who set the trap sitting on the couch is gloating at him. Smiling about it like that is just the funniest thing ever and like "Haha you're so predictable and inferior to me you fool!"
That same gloating cat is the one who also uses a similar method to set chair traps where he takes the rope over the back of the chair, then down through the legs and back over the chair wrapping it and pulls the string out and makes it fall over on top the other cats when they come pull the string. He set some traps with boxes too one day, that was interesting.. there were 3 boxes stacked up against a wall, he put his paws up on the middle box and nudged it with his head to make it slightly off balance like a janga tower, then he ran from the living room down the hall and ran across the bed stomping on the other cat sitting on the bed of course to get the other cat's attention. Then he started scratching the side of the bed, which the cat on the bed sees as a direct insult to his space and tries to smack him in the head. Then the trap setting cat stared him down and showed him his but, which I think that is a further insult of sorts for cats but it worked and the other cat jumped off the bed and started chasing him. The cat who set the trap then runs directly at the boxes but cut out fast as soon as he got close and the cat that was chasing him slid right into the boxes that then came toppling down on him. The cat that was chasing him is a ragdoll cat, so unlike the other cats he has long fur sticking out the bottom of his paws, so he slides on wood floors and tile and can't stop like the other cats because there is no traction. The other two cats do not have that on their feet so they can stop better.. AND they can actually open doors with their paws because they can turn doorknobs and he can't, this why the gloating cat keeps locking him in rooms by luring him in and closing the door as well, so I have to make sure I put things too heavy for the cats to move in front of the doors to keep that from happening when I'm not home.
Similar to this:
My sister keeps telling me I need to film the cats doing these crazy things and put it in a video contest because she was amazed at all the ridiculous things my cats were doing when she was staying with me. The same trap setting cat even managed to lock my niece in a room while she was here on top of the other weird traps he keeps making. That cat seems to get extremely jealous and protective of me at times and doesn't want anyone else to sit close to me or have me give them attention and tends to act out and retaliate if they do. I have been trying to break him of it, but that just seems to make it worse so I haven't quite figured out how to make him stop. The vet says she thinks he is insecure and to just give him reassurance, but that hasn't seemed to help much. I actually worry that one of these times he is going to set a trap that actually hurts the other cats so I have to constantly make sure there isn't anything that he could use to hurt them, which isn't something I ever thought I had to do just to leave cats alone. LOL
EDIT: Just now, while sitting on my couch with one cat sleeping next to me, the ragdoll then tries to jump up here and sit in my lap. Gloating, jealous, trap setting cat isn't having any of it and proceeded to leap from across the room jumping on top of sleeping cat, knocking the ragdoll cat into my drink sitting on the table and dumping it all over my leg and sock so I sit here typing this with a towel over everything wearing one sock due to this latest CATastrophe.