Lifecycle
Badge ecosystems keep moving after handout: apps, hexpansions, SAOs, antennas, cases, repair parts, firmware updates, and post-event hardware experiments.
The release firmware maps four P2 inputs to up/down/left/right behavior, text entry, logo selection strings, an elite LED state, and a Konami-style `99 LIVES!` path.
SourceThe repository tag preserves firmware apps, games, challenge material, schedule code, BLE control, and LED control utilities.
SourceThe project details say PSoC routines were back-ported from a PC lightserver and left able to receive patterns or blocks of RGB values over UDP from another Wi-Fi device.
SourceThe all-at-once log reports that the LEDs were being controlled from a PC over Wi-Fi after ESP8266 orientation, reset, GPIO, noisy-power, and capacitance debugging.
SourceThe README calls the Banglet a fully functional Bluetooth recon device, and the main firmware starts scanner behavior while advertising a BLEUART service.
SourceThe main loop cycles between wagon, hunt, and party modes when the mode input changes, keeping the badge centered on local interactive display behavior.
SourceAfter the relay-computer game path, the badge became an emulator for a vintage time-sharing operating system where attendees could write code.
SourceThe retrospective and Hackaday review document the micro-USB CP2102N path used to expose the serial console for the B.E.N.D.E.R. game after the DC25 wireless terminal experience.
SourceUSB serial access at 9600 baud exposed tesserHack map and help views for playing the maze with clearer coordinate feedback.
SourceHackaday documented USB CDC serial behavior at 115200 baud and a terminal mode, while project logs describe a shell for badge control and extra interactions.
SourceThe official sponsor page has a Badge Sponsor section naming BitSight, supporting the 2025 badge sponsorship trail.
SourceROOTCON's FAQ and Black Badge policy define electronic, non-electronic, black, and electi badge categories used to frame the RC20 badge record without inventing unpublished hardware details.
SourceThe official write-up identifies the Hayes SmartModem as the badge's visual and command-set inspiration for the late-1980s/early-1990s event theme.
SourceThe companion package documents image transfer to the badge through NFC using a Type 4/NfcA tag workflow. This identifies the update surface without exposing a claim about any active radio or every event unit.
SourceThe badge was described by an attendee as a practical, battery-powered WiFi signal-strength meter rather than a decorative-only blinky.
SourceThe badge displayed the conference running order, making the 2016 badge a practical attendee schedule surface.
SourceThe firmware includes a nine-minute countdown timer mode usable as a practical con timer, alongside Knight Rider, breath, spin, and looping-eye animation modes.
SourceThe community variant used ESP32-C6 hardware with USB, two AA batteries, LEDs, and a 128x32 0.91-inch I2C SSD1306 OLED.
SourceThe LCA2021 Open Hardware Miniconf page said attendees who missed out on a SwagBadge could order components and make a DagBadge from scratch.
SourceThe DEF CON 31 entry documents LED illumination, a speaker badge variant, and a custom Recon Village lanyard.
SourceThe VIP variant used ESP32-C6 hardware with USB, two AA batteries, LEDs, and a 1.28-inch GC9A01 circular TFT LCD.
SourceThe hardware tree preserves separate KiCad directories and board rasters for Community, Guest, Speaker, Sponsor, and Staff role variants.
SourceThe DEF CON 26 entry documented two badge designs: the classic spy silhouette and a detailed skull variant.
SourceBadge Pirates documents participant, speaker, organizer, volunteer, sponsor, and pirate badge designs for the 2019 BSidesKC badge family.
SourceThe later writeup remembers the 2022 badge as a fun blinky badge inspired by Gothenburg trams.
SourceThe public guide frames The Shattered Shard as a ten-chapter rune-restoration quest with sequentially unlocked progress and per-badge state. It establishes a planned game surface, not a full challenge archive, final scoring system, prize, winner record, completion ledger, event deployment, or permission to reproduce solutions or probe anything beyond an assigned badge and its advertised services.
SourceThe creator write-up says each badge represented one of 26 rotor notches and that attendees connected rings of 26 badges to receive and advance challenge messages.
SourceThe application source documents an SX127x-class 915 MHz LoRa mesh and a PingMessage carrying sender name, RGB theme color, latitude/longitude, and a short status; the product calls its mesh self-healing with minimal configuration. It does not prove final RF parameters, privacy choices, message authentication, interference behavior, or regulatory suitability in every jurisdiction.
SourceThe IR transmitter and TSOP receiver used a UART-oriented protocol with per-badge serial addressing, enabling challenges and user programs to exchange data optically.
SourceHackaday said the Europe run would continue the Supercon custom LoRa mesh experiment in Italy on different frequencies and possibly push transmission parameters.
SourceHackaday and the firmware README document badges joining topic channels, sending LoRa messages, and repeating received frames with TTL limits across nearby badges.
SourceHackaday describes a Battleships game played with another badge over the ESP32-C6's 802.15.4 mesh networking.
SourceThe BOTNET log describes a badge-only wireless game where activated badges could act as badge-net repeaters while players managed services, firewalls, exploits, points, XP, and attacks against other AND!XOR badges.
SourceEach badge periodically transmitted a unique IR code and listened for other badges; seeing twelve special speaker/organizer badges unlocked parts of a hidden image.
SourceThe product and forum sources describe a main badge that uses onboard controls and supports robot fights against other badges.
SourceJonTheNiceGuy's EMFight lets EMF Camp badge holders challenge each other, keeping inter-attendee play in the app-store layer rather than only in built-in firmware.
SourceThe maker names Acolyte, Glyph, Elder God, and redacted Cthulhu badge types. Its Séance description says four badges complete a circuit and beacon to nearby badges, without identifying radio hardware, a wireless protocol, role counts, or on-site distribution confirmation.
SourceThe guide documents Bluetooth LE co-op mode for interacting with other attendees plus a secret shaking-sequence Easter egg tied to an ultimate flag and rainbow bunny-eye goal.
SourceThe attendee's analysis reports that the delivered firmware observes compatible BLE advertisements, changes the RGB LED from received color values, and relays them with loop avoidance. This documents an interaction behavior without publishing packet construction, operating instructions, production-firmware identity, range, compliance, or final event deployment claims.
SourceThe bottom connector enabled inter-badge progress, with public notes documenting Human-to-Human and Human-to-Goon interactions that changed movement or game state.
SourceThe README says Down broadcasts the current pattern/palette over ESP-NOW, with nearby badges cascading up to about three hops and rate/interaction safeguards. A five-second Down hold disables wireless until reset or power cycle; no BLE protocol is claimed for the default application.
SourceThe wiki says the fourth button sends an IR blast to nearby badges, making their lights flash and motor vibrate.
SourceThe badge docs describe IR exchanges that send clue and contact information, receive someone else's card/contact data, and verify cryptographic signatures on clues.
SourceThe DEF CON 16 badge could transfer attendee-selected files from an SD card to another badge over infrared, creating a PDA-style social exchange mechanic.
SourceBadges communicated over infrared and could report encountered badge identities through a serial terminal, turning attendee movement and mingling into puzzle state.
SourceHackaday frames the Cube as a mesh network of badges and says code written inside the emulated environment could be deployed to other badges.
SourceThe badge used an RFM69W module and 433 MHz coil antenna for peer/chat and social radio behavior, with project logs documenting radio startup failures and bootloader timing fixes.
SourceAn RJ12 6P6C connector and cable linked Q and C badges so attendees could exchange digital tokens and advance the ARG across badge types.
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