I have a "turn off the laser pointer" routine with my cat - nothing crazy, I just bring the pointer up right next to her and cover the dot, turn it off, and then pick it up and let her smell the end. The specifics don't matter, but she knows that that routine means the laser pointer goes away, and a physical toy comes out next to give her something to actually catch.

You can also finish off play time with a rope toy too, just so they actually catch something

Is there actually any evidence of this, or is it just pseudoscience? Last time I checked, it seems like this was made up by some random cat websites and not actually corroborated by any studies. It's one of those things that sounds believable enough.

Yup. Mine will just stare at the thing until it comes on again or I just grab another toy for him