There is so much stuff on 3 Fly here on the Café that I'm a bit reluctant to open a new thread. That said, I haven't been able to get a clear view on the following: disregarding method and focusing on the effect to the spectators - which is the most magical looking 3 Fly routine? Please indicate whether the effect you nominate uses gaffs or not. Thanks!

Best is relative to the setting in which you plan to use it, and ideally you may have several "best" rountines in your repretoire. My latest ShareBook "jingle" evolved from playing with Mb's "3Easy" that has received rave reviews. I could not perform a couple of his suggested sleights so looked for a different way --
and wound up with a routine focused the sound of the coins as well as the visual candy. I now perform Jingle immediately followed by the modified 3easy for a double whammy that emphasises, rather than repeat, the 3-across theme. Even more exiting is that these presentation create some great Patterns of Performance that can seque into other coin effects.

I gave a preview of this 'sound magic' as a 'freeby' called "CaSH". The full routine is ShareBook available at No Charge to responsible performers. I will expand the offer as a free download to anyone who has purchased Mb's 3easy.

Will it be "best" ??? Only you will know. I can only guarantee "other than" with a smile and a bit of passion.

That way, you have two different 'up to date' routines to choose from, plus the ability to combine them.

The routine I perform is adapted from TOC and closely parallels Chris Kenner's version. We had the opportunity to go over our routines together at the Coinvention a few years ago.

I have had many magicians ask if the routine I was using was the Ultimate Threefly by Bob Kochler. The fact that I get that response from using normal coins lets me know that there is no reason to mess with gaffs.

Don't get me wrong, I like and use gaffs when they add to a routine to offset their cost and possible damage to them. I would hate to drop a U3F set on the pavement.

I think the key is to perform it with facility, you can't struggle with the moves. And with 3-Fly specifically, you need to manage the attention of the spectators. If they don't pay close and proper attention, they will miss the effect.

I like 3 fly when it is blended into a larger routine. I think this works much better then as a stand alone routine.

BFly by Rannie Raymundo is one that he taught me a couple years ago and I enjoy both doing it as well as watching the Boss do it to this day!

There's another one out there but it's still hovering underground so I can't say anything other than OMG it's GOOD! More may be revealed in due time! Man I love secrets!

MMc

Thanks for the kind words Hermano? "The other one out there" could this be the P-F?

Thank you for your responses.

funsway: please forgive my ignorance, but what is "Mb's 3Easy"?

KirkG: similarly, what is "TOC"? Has the Kenner routine been published?

Thank you!

Check out http://www.themagiccafe.com/forums/viewt......m=159&29

for info on 3easy. I also recommend his "Short Pockets"

But of course mi Hermano!

TOC is referring to the book Totally Out of Control by Chris Kenner. In it, his routine "Menage et Trois" is considered the original ThreeFly. That is only one of the great effects in that book. If you don't own it stop reading right now and go order it, it's amazing. It is also the one version I still love and perform at least 10-15 times a day.

PFly... truly impeccable work from Rannie. Worth drooling over!

One very good thing about Kohler's Ultimate Three Fly is the clean shows at various points during the routine.

You can show each hand to have the proper number of coins -- and no more -- pretty much throughout the trick, including at the start and finish.

You don't do clever concealments; instead, you show your hands openly, toss the coins in the air freely, and so on.

I learned to do a very good four-coin ungaffed version of Three Fly, but to me there's no comparison. With U3F you defeat the most common theory among spectators -- "he's got an extra coin in his hand somewhere" -- so the trick starts to look like magic, not sleight of hand.

Cheers,
Jerry

The thing that sets "3Fly" apart from other coins across effects is that it's supposed to be "visual". In other words, the audience sees something that they don't see during a "normal" coins across. That said, "3Fly" routines tend to fall into four groups:

1. The audience sees the coins disappear, but doesn't see them appear.
2. The audience sees the coins appear, but doesn't see them disappear.
3. The audience sees a little bit of both, happening at the same time.
4. The audience misses everything. Every time they look for a coin, it's already there, or already gone.

The best routine for you depends upon which of these effects you choose to achieve. The worst routines are ones in which the magician really hasn't put much thought into what effect he wants to create, and instead, just waves his hands around a lot and hopes somebody sees something that looks like magic.

For me ......
Mirage Et Trois by Eric Jones is the best I've seen and done. No Gaffs
Tim

I think Gary Kurtz' routine has to be one of the best looking three fly routines out there. It's the one I did until I saw Curtis' version. I performed a combination of the two until I developed my SVCA(Spectator's Visible Coins Across) from my Mirage Et Trois DVD. Another noticble version would be Dr. Rubinstein's Retrofly. I love this version because you actually hear the coins arrive.

However, I do understand that this conversation has to do w/ trick coins. My suggestion is that people study Reed McClintocks Slipstream as it is one of the cleanest I've ever seen and requires virtually no sleight of hand. I would also suggest Garrett Thomas' GT 3Fly which is a no touch version of three fly which is magical looking and endsd with three examinable coins and two empty hands(Any Questions Video). My old buddy Dave Neighbors has an entire manuscript devoted to the subject including gaffed an ungaffed handlings, versions where the hands never come together(no touch), and versions where you end completely clean.

Thanks Eric, but Which is best??? Well frist you have to ask yourself a few ???'S 1. best for WHO? 2. how skilled are you? 3.WHERE are you going to be doing It? 4. WHO Are you going to be doing it For? 5. WHAT Routine are you going to be doing Befre It? 6. WHAT routine are you going to be doing after it? 7. Is it a stand alone Trick? 8. Or are you going to be doing a Production of the 3 coins Frist? 9. Are you going to be doing a 3 coin vanish after it? And after you think about That, Ask yourself If it where REAL MAGIC--- HOW would it look!!! ok that's my 2 cwnts!

GREAT questions Dave Neighbors!

Not sure if it fits what folks want here but if you combine John Kennedy's coins to cup/glass with the basic approach you get a routine where you can wind up with a glass in someones hand and the last coin seeming to drop into the glass from a few feet away.

When David Neighbors talks about coins, PAY ATTENTION! Great questions and insight.
Though I've mentioned some of this on another thread, here's the scoop. Historically, Menage et Trois from TOC is pre-dated by 3Fly (the original, actually published under the name '3Fly' in Kenner's issue no. two of "Magic Man Examiner"). There were only 4 issues of this short-lived, but wonderful periodical. I paid Kenner royalties for permission to re-print 3Fly in booklet form, with his original illustrations, and some additional thought and handling by me. 500 copies, out of print, but you may still find a copy or two floating around for sale out there.
This 'original' 3Fly is actually predated by coin work of Troy Hooser and Gary Kurtz. Perhaps others as well. Kenner achieved the effect described by Curtis Kam in which the coins across effect occurred at eye-level and the transference appeared to be instantaneous. You saw a coin appear or vanish, depending on which hand you were looking at at the time. When your eyes darted to the other hand, you were too late. I'll never forget the effect it had on me and others as Chris was developing the routine and handling at Illusions restaurant in Carmel (Indy), IN. (long before it appeared in print)
I still use the 4-coin, no gaff original version. I love Bob Kohler's set, but the no-gaff is much cheaper! It has a tremendous visibility for a coin routine. T. Nelson Downs would have loved it and could have performed it in a large theatre. At a COMDEX trade show I was working in Las Vegas, I performed the routine in the booth show for over 100 people each set. I used silver dollar sized slot tokens.
There are plenty of ways to 'prove' there is no extra coins to the audience (subtly, of course). I usually start and end clean with only 3 coins, and the fourth coin secretly comes in and out of play. Chris Kenner would completely fool everyone by being clean at the end by using a... NO, sorry, he made me promise not to tip that part!

It is hard to say which is best, I would start by looking for ungaffed versions.
troy hooser has some great stuff both ungaffed and gaffed in his DESTROYERS book and dvd series. The first routine I leardned was Darryl's 3flyIII, also ungimmicked. If lookig for gimicked stuff, them mark mason's come fly with me looks amasing in his hands, (but also expensive). I would recomend learning an ungimmicked version first. then If you like the effect and think it plays well maybe get a gaff invovled. or like me just develop a routine around 3fly. I am satified with that to perform. However being a magic nerd I still want the gaffs.