We’re living in a world where we never know what the next year will look like. Will we be fighting a new pandemic? Will we be swimming through the challenges of hyperinflation? Will we be hunkering down during a time of war? Will there be a fuel or food shortage? Or will the sun simply fry us and leave the power grid destroyed? Anything can happen. So we definitely have a reason to celebrate the fact that we made it through our first year as a disc brand. We launched our website a year ago with nothing more than a few black pages announcing our planned disc lines.

We accomplished quite a bit in our first year. Here are a few of the things we’re happy about…

DISCS WERE RELEASED

The Prepper Line of discs was the one we thought we could get finished the most quickly. We chose to use an overseas disc maker that is smaller but that has enough experience to achieve finished products relatively quickly and without too much upfront cost. In 2022 we saw these discs released in the Prepper Line: Bleak (putter), Despair (mid-range), Dystopia (driver), and Cataclysm (driver coming at the very end of the year).

The Catastrophic Line was a bigger challenge because we are working with two plastics manufacturers in the USA who have never made discs before. We had to wade through the deep waters of mold manufacturing, polymer blending, and mass production. There were victories and there were setbacks. But in the end we released the Plague (driver), the Famine (driver – though being retooled for the PDGA), and the Blackout (driver) in the Catastrophic Line.

The Munitions Line is an experimental line of discs that can be a little more adventurous, but have turned out to be very valuable to our brand. We saw a successful release of the Land Mine (putt-and-approach), the Frag (utility mid-range), and WMD (non-PDGA-approved distance driver). Plus we expect to have the Bunker Buster oversized driver arrive at the end of 2022, or very early in 2023.

The Conspiracy Line is another line of discs that was an interesting experiment because we used a contact in a southeast Asian country that has never been involved in disc golf and has never made disc golf discs before. In the interest of diversifying our disc sources, we’re always interesting in using different countries and are even currently exploring manufacturing opportunities in other parts of the world that know nothing about disc golf. The Flat Earth (mid-range) was very slow in coming, particularly because of shipping limitations from such countries. But it arrived in 2022 and launched the Conspiracy Line. Another driver is currently in the works there, but because of the geographical distance and the manufacturer’s inexperience, it is taking quite a while to make it into something that we feel is worth releasing. However, we’re excited to keep exploring the possibilities.

TEAM DOOMSDAY WAS BORN

We, the founders of Doomsday Discs, swayed back and forth a bit on the approach to creating Team Doomsday. We knew that we wanted a team, but how should that team look? We at first thought about creating different “levels” of a team and we opened applications. We chose a team from those applications, but shortly after decided that we did not want to limit our team membership. Our larger vision is to make a brand that is run by the team, and we want input from as many people as possible. So we decided that the team would remain open to anybody willing to purchase a team t-shirt package (a Prepper Pack). That would get them into the team. Any separation into team levels would happen later– we could evaluate participation and contributions from team members after the first few months, or maybe a year later.

Plus, we decided that we want our little brand to have the largest “team” in disc golf. Picture, if you dare, players and spectators wearing Team Doomsday shirts and swag at every major disc golf event in the country. That is the kind of advertising that can only come from a huge grassroots effort. We believe in our team and that we’ll get there. We’ll spread awareness of the brand and the pending apocalypse that is to come.

DECENTRALIZATION WAS DECLARED

Our different disc lines are made in different locations. Our names are all “handles” in order to be more of a community-driven brand rather than one that focuses on specific individuals. And from there, we wanted to make sure that the names of our discs, plastics, and lines are guided by the growing members of Team Doomsday. But even more than that, we took steps in our first year to involve our team in as many ways as possible. We’re currently developing discs that our team wanted us to try. We’re even making a mold that was designed by a member of the team using 3D modeling software. We’re preparing our first team-designed disc stamps. We’ve worked to set up Doomsday Demolition tournament events that are run by team members so that they can introduce the brand to their communities. We’ve created Black Market Boxes that team members can purchase at a low price so that they can vend to other players and make a few bucks. We’re always trying to find ways to get involved, using our Doomsday Discord Server as the main form of constant communication.

All in all, it’s been a good first year. It could be our last. The Doomsday is coming, so we’ll do what we can, while we can.