I'm trying to decide which to get....NFW which also comes with No Joke or ACE by Richard Sanders. I've read that some think the quality of the gaff in ACE is better.

For those who have worked with all three, which would you suggest I get?

http://www.penguinmagic.com/p/23

http://www.penguinmagic.com/p/3580

Im not sure of the quality issue you had mentioned but I would bet 90% of the guys are going to say hands down, NFW, including me. 😮😀

This is what I was alluding to. mention is also made that you can get replacement gaffs at a lower price with ACE.

https://www.themagiccafe.com/forums/view......orum=201

Also, in the thread above it is mentioned that No Joke gets to the same ending in a more direct manner than NFW. That said, they come together when bought at Penguin so one can decide which presentation they prefer.

I just ordered both NFW/No Joke and ACE. When they arrive I'll go through them thoroughly and give my thoughts about them.

Any update?

There is a video you can access with both NFW/No Joke and with ACE. I prefer the routines, methods, and performances show in ACE better.

In the end, it's the effect I'm looking for and, with me, ACE delivers it better. Having said that your mileage my vary.

Thanks for the follow-up. I've also been considering these two effects.

Are you able to share anything further regarding the routines, methods, and performances that make ACE stand out above NFW for you?

My preference would also be for ACE. Why? Because cards are laid out face up and then face down in the spectator's own hands. All four faces of all four jokers seem to be shown fairly as you swap them about. They are not spun about in the hand in an unnatural fashion as in the effect No Joke. Rather the handling is more natural. I would also say that the effect can come across as a warmer and more intimate performance than NFW although of course this has as much to do with the performer as anything else.

I have both and agree that ACE is better. Richard Sanders does a fantastic job with his demonstration videos which give you many approaches to doing the trick.

I had a variety of double-sided cards made up by Marty Martini(and they are superbly done) that are colorful. In my routine, I use Aces of Spade and Kings of Hearts because the color contrast makes them pop to whoever is watching. I go through the routine and they see four Kings of Hearts, two in their hands and two in mine. I say that between us four Kings would be a fantastic poker hand but if they could have any four-card hand in poker what would it be? Naturally, seeing 4 Kings, they say 4 Aces. Bingo, they appear.

It doesn't make sense seeing four Aces of Spades and four King of Hearts...but it doesn't have to. The color change alone is jolting much less the tie in to a poker hand of four Aces. It works for me and people seem to like as well.

I like nfw as it starts with magic right away with the cards turning over

ace only gets magical at the very end when they transform