Ace Assembly

For the public record, the Ace Assembly or Four Aces Trick is a classic plot in card magic first described (but not created) by Jean-Nicolas Ponsin in Nouvelle Magie blanche dévoilée (1853).

Effect: The performer takes out the four aces and put them face down on the table in a square. One ace is designated as the "Leader ace". Three indifferent cards are placed on top of each ace. Magically all the aces jump out of their pile and assemble in the "Leader ace" pile.

Copperfield performing his Grandpa's Aces

In the same period, between 1857 and 1875, Hofzinser created the future MacDonald's Aces for the final of an effect called The Power of Faith using FOUR double face Jack/Eight. We can't give a precise date because this trick was eventually published in J.N. Hofzinser Kartenkunste (1910) written by Ottokar Fischer and translated in English as Hofzinser's Card Conjuring) by S.H. Sharpe in 1931.

One of the first to have the Aces move one at time (rather then disappear all at once) was Stanley Collins' Another Four Ace Trick in The Magazine of Magic, Vo. 1, N° 1, oct. 1914, page 40. Reprint in J. G. Thompson, Jr.'s book My Best (1945) as The Alpha Four Ace Trick, page 131.

Another variation dubbed "O'Henry Four Aces" by Frank Garcia's in Super Subtle Card Miracles (1973) which added a surprise ending was first featured in the Trevor Lewis' prize-winning act for the Magic Circle in 1969*, The IBM in 1971, FISM in 1976 and published as Topsy Turvy and Slow Motion Plus in The New Pentagram, Vol. 3, N° 11, march 1972, page 90. In USA, Roger Smith published the same idea as Slow Motion Ace Switch-A-Roo in Revolutionary Card Compositions (1971).

• See Roger's Thesaurus (1994), page 214, written by Roger Crosthwaite and Justin Higham

Another surprise ending is the "Backfire Assembly" in which the Aces travel back to their original packets.

Progressive (or Succession) Aces is a variation of the plot by Ken Krenzel in which the first ace joins the second, then those two join the third and finally all arrive in the last packet in sequence.

Lin Searles created the variation where the Aces had a different color back then the rest of the cards in Ultimate Aces (1958).

Peter Kane's Jazz Aces popularized a streamlined Ace Assembly where just 4 indifferent cards were used.

Larry Jennings took it took the extreme with the "Invisible Palm Aces" (also known as Open Travellers*) where the four aces assemble one by one under the performer's hand.

• See The Open Travelers by Edward Marlo in The New Phoenix N° 375, dec. 1962, page 329.

The most popular marketed gimmmicked Ace Assembly was MacDonald’s Aces.

Versions in Print Using Ungaffed Cards

There have been many gaffed and ungaffed versions created.

Ricky Jay performing Exclusive Coterie

• Slow-Motion Aces by Dai Vernon (aces move one by one)
• Ultimate Aces by Lin Searles (Aces are different colors)
• Dai Vernon's "The Four Blue Backed Aces" (Further Inner Secrets of Card Magic)
• Progressive Aces by Ken Krenzel. Published in Epilogue Special #2: Ken Krenzel Issue. The first ace joins the second, then those two join the third and finally all arrive in the last packet in sequence.
• The Evaporating Aces, by Cliff Green. Published in Professional Card Magic (Green, 1979)
• "JC's Collins Aces and JC's Collins Kings" in The Commercial Magic of J. C. Wagner [1987] written by Mike Maxwell.
• Al Koran "Koran's Solo Aces" in Routined Manipulation, Part 1 written by Lewis Ganson.
• Edward Marlo's "Bluff Ace Assembly"
• "The Exclusive Coterie" from the card trick section of Expert at the Card Table
• Dyslexic Queens by J.C. Wagner
• Stencel Aces by Bob Stencel published in Richard's Almanac, vol. 3. Feb. 1985.
• Multiple Cop Progressive Aces by Ken Krenzel. Published in The Card Classics of Ken Krenzel (Harry Lorayne, 1978).
• Natural Aces by Ken Krenzel. Published in Genii (April, 2007)
• Domenech's Aces by Pablo Domenech. Published in Real Magic (Jose de la Torre, 1978)

Versions in Print Using Gaffed Cards

• MacDonald’s Aces by Frank Garcia. Published as a separate manuscript in the New Stars of Magic Series, Volume 1, #2 (1973)
• A Dream of Aces by Gary Ouellet. Originally released by the Camirand Academy of Magic as a booklet with companion video and cards. Essentially a handling and presentation for MacDonald's Aces.
• Ankner's Aces by Buddy Ankner, a progressive ace assembly marketed by Perfect Magic in the early 1980s.

Variations of the Plot

• SecaRouf (FourAces in reverse) by Phil Goldstein in which the aces start out together and end up in the other packets.
• Jazz Aces by Peter Kane

References

• Genii Forum Best Ace Assemblies
• Denis Behr's database