Shortly after lifehacker linked to my Day of the Week For Any Date post last fall, I was inspired to see how much further I could minimize the required work.

Even I was surprised at the results of this effort, which I just released earlier this week as Day One.

Instead of giving a day of the week for any date verbally, you ask the spectator for a meaningful year and month, and instantly create a calendar for that month from memory! You then ask for the particular day, circle it, and give the calendar to the spectator as a souvenir. Ideally, of course, this is on the back of your business card.

Other methods used usually require the performer to stop and work through 100 years of mnemonics (to cover the century), and several steps of arithmetic. This also necessitates a 10 to 15 second pause. I was never happy with that pause, which is why I wanted to improve the current method I use.

Here's the teaser ad I created for Day One:



The math in Day One involves only a single subtraction, and even that isn't always needed! No, you won't need to memorize 100 year mnemonics, or even a third of that amount.

One of the things I'm proudest of, however, is that there's no conversion of the month, date, or year into a numeric code. Yes, there's conversion into mnemonic images, but your brain will handle these more naturally than abstract numbers.

The complete package includes the PDF notes themselves, a PDF template for the calendar used in this effect, 4 videos of animated mnemonics (each available in 800 by 600 and 480 by 360 resolutions), two quiz apps (both made to run in any browser and take advantage of touchscreen mobile devices when available), and a file of several relevant links to help you explore other ideas related to this routine.

Over at the Magic Cafe, some of my early testers provide some great reviews:

“I will most likely use this instead of the standard feat now. It offers something new and different in that you produce an entire month and calendar you can give away. So I would reasonably assert that if you have any interest in this type of feat, Day One is probably the most accessible and easy method to get into this. I honestly believe the entire concept, approach, and delivery of Day One is brilliant.”
-Jim Wilder

“I especially like Scott's brilliant idea of filling in the month calendars as a presentational ploy. This not only allows a very fast start to the effect but also gives something to hand the spectator at the end - especially useful if you print these calendars on the back of your business card. Of course this presentation can easily be adapted for other DFAD methods and I will certainly use this with my own Speed Dating system....Scott's instructions are very thorough and the ebook comes with an extremely impressive set of learning tools.”
-Michael Daniels (author of Speed Dating)

“What stands out most for me is that this is not just another "show off" effect, but it connects with people because they will get a present at the end of the routine. It reminds me of my own creation "Stigma Square". They would make a perfect couple! Imagine you have a piece of thick paper, you ask for the birthday of a spectator, then you produce the calendar month of his birth, and then on the back of this paper you create the matching Stigma Square. A complete little act of a math genius, fitting inside your pocket!

“BUT there is one really annoying part of "Day One": in my opinion it´s way too cheap! For this extensive work I would have taken at least the double price!”
-Nico Reuter (author of Stigma Square)