The Paper & A Dream

As consumers, we’ve been searching for more.. More ways to disconnect from our increasingly screen-oriented lives, more non-digital routines and more face-to-face socialization with our families and friends.

According to The Atlantic, “real-world socializing has declined for both men and women, for all ages, for all ethnicities, and for all levels of income and education; while the steepest declines have been among young people, poor people, and Black Americans. Americans are spending less time with other people because they’re spending more time with their screens—televisions and phones. From 2003 to 2022, American men reduced their average hours of face-to-face socializing by about 30 percent. For unmarried Americans, the decline was even bigger—more than 35 percent. For teenagers, it was more than 45 percent. Boys and girls ages 15 to 19 reduced their weekly social hangouts by more than three hours a week. The evidence that young people have replaced friend time with phone time is strong.”

Quoting Derek Thompson's article – “I don’t think hanging out more will solve every problem. But I do think social issues could be helped somewhat if people spent a little more time with other people and a little less time gazing into digital content that’s designed to make us anxious and despondent about the world.”

As creators, we noticed a specific quirk in consumer behavior, a consumer need and a gap in the industry. 

Anecdotally, we've noticed a shift and want for more offline options and the data supports our observations. The nostalgia-driven comeback of retro products like vinyl, print and instant photography has returned with a force. People bought 43 million vinyl records last year, according to the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) – a 17-year-running growth of vinyl sales. More than 788 million print books were sold in the United States in 2023. The film tells a similar story as the global instant print camera market is expected to grow to $18.50 Billion by 2032. 

And while some of our favorite game and puzzle options continue seeing strong digital success, a gap expands, as print newspaper circulation is down 8% from 2021 and Sunday print circulation specifically, decreased 16% from the previous year.

The numbers say it all. Retro, analog and offline is in.. and Sunday Club is here to help fill the gap.

Sunday Club is here to help you unwind, disconnect, and reclaim the nostalgia of relaxing Sundays. 

We believe putting pencil to paper is an unlock to disconnecting, mindfulness and recovery, which is why Sunday Club is grounded at its core in a physical, offline experience.

Each Sunday Club issue is an effort to fill the gap for digital disconnection and give you access to a new Sunday routine that brings back the nostalgia of your traditional, print newspaper. Each 8-page issue is beautifully designed and packed with all of your favorite, relaxing and challenging paper-and-pencil games––like our Sunday Club Crossword (and Mini!), Sudoku puzzles, Mazes, our Sunday Club Comic, Search & Find, and much more; all thoughtfully developed by our incredibly talented team of Puzzle Architects.

Why you'll love Sunday Club:

• Take a break from your screens with paper-and-pencil, offline fun: Escape your screens and the digital world and rediscover the delightful relaxation of paper-and-pencil puzzles, all in a nostalgic, print experience reminiscent of the classic Sunday newspaper experience.
• A reimagined newspaper experience: Sunday Club brings back the Sunday funnies, classic puzzles and some new, unique games, all wrapped in a beautiful, print edition that is good for at home and looks great on the go.
• Good for the brain: Each beautifully designed, 8-page issue features over 15 unique puzzles crafted by award-winning creators, offering hours of challenge and offline entertainment.

STEP 1 – UNPACK YOUR SUNDAY CLUB DELIVERY

Delivered directly to your home, open up your beautifully designed Sunday Club shipment to be greeted by a fresh issue to help you kick off your Sunday routine.

Each issue is 8 full-color pages packed with a fresh, uniquely themed lineup of puzzles, games and Sunday content that will bring you hours of relaxing gameplay to help you unwind – brought to you by our award-winning team of puzzle designers and illustrators, aka our Puzzle Architects.

STEP 2 – UNPLUG & PLAY

Play Sunday Club however you like. Pick it up, pass it on, carry it along, play with family or a friend and meet someone new when you do!

Take your time (or don’t) and enjoy a fresh set of unique and challenging puzzles and games within each issue. Our talented team of award-winning Puzzle Architects aims to create a balanced experience for solvers, and a challenging, but achievable difficulty level each week. This was extremely important to us as we want our players to have a chance to feel a sense of stress-free, but deserved accomplishment.

Making Sunday Club has been a lot of fun along the way. Personally, I've really enjoyed how much paper-and-pencil gaming brings an entirely new element and feeling of success to solving otherwise common games.

Here’s a sneak peek at some of our favorite content from the pilot issue –

• Sunday Club Search & Find – Find all of the hidden items in the picture
• Mini Crossword – A casual crossword to warm up
• Sunday Club Comic – Funny, bite-sized bits and illustrated humor from Sunday Club
• Word Fit – Fill in the grid with the list of word using each word only once
• The Impossible Maze – Find your way through the maze
• Word Play – See how many words you can create from the six jumbled letters
• Sudoku – Fill in the empty squares so each number appears exactly once in every row, column and box
• Pictogram – Check out the pictures and use logic to guess the names of popular movies
• Word Search – Find the hidden words in the grid of letters
• Sunday Club Crossword – The premier Sunday Club crossword puzzle

I’m always open to suggestions and will be listening to feedback along the way for what the community is looking for. If there are ever games folks want to see in future issues, message me your ideas!

STEP 3 – GO DEEPER AND SOLVE THE META PUZZLE

Dive deeper into your Sunday Club issue with The Meta Puzzle!

Each Sunday Club issue features a unique, themed Meta Puzzle for an extra challenge. Sunday Club's Meta Puzzle uses solutions from the puzzles in the issue to unlock the answer to a final, meta puzzle challenge. 

Solve the games and puzzles that have the META CLUE icon on them to uncover the clues you’ll need to answer the Meta Puzzle. Uncover clues to solve The Meta Puzzle and get on the leaderboard for a chance to win exclusive prizes.