Lifecycle
Badge ecosystems keep moving after handout: apps, hexpansions, SAOs, antennas, cases, repair parts, firmware updates, and post-event hardware experiments.
The Registration FAQ documents room-block participant badges plus donor, sponsor, volunteer, speaker, student, local, and other badge-allocation paths, with separate on-site badge-type queues.
SourceThe first-hand writeup says 300 CactusCon PCB badges were made and given away at the HeatSync Labs booth.
SourceThe same retrospective source preserves the badge's Rickroll reference as part of its social memory.
SourceThe quick guide documents a photocell, potentiometer, MOSFET, resistors, battery holder, and four LEDs used to light the spider eyes based on darkness level.
SourceHackaday.io documents an exposed add-on header as part of the badge's expansion and badgelife compatibility surface.
SourceHackaday documents a five-pin add-on header carrying power, PWM, and I2C for the 2019 badge's expansion boards.
SourceThe event report notes GPIO breakout pads for attendee hacking and experimenting beyond the default badge behavior.
SourceThe documented board exposes I2C through SAO headers and includes an ST25DV04K NFC/I2C EEPROM for badge experiments.
SourceThe optional SAO connector follows the rough orientation of the standard for upright add-ons but leaves I2C pins unconnected, making it a power-only aesthetic expansion point.
SourceThe original official badge firmware shipped a custom Pacman-themed firmware whose native quiz-server CTF protocol was reversed by the community.
SourceConnecting a terminal over USB exposed a text adventure about scavenging parts to rebuild a relay-based computer in a missile silo.
SourcePublic creator material says DC33 was a non-electronic badge year, making optical interaction and material design the documented hack surface instead of firmware.
SourceThe official call for badge designers stated that DC31 would return to a non-electronic physical badge after two consecutive electronic badge years.
SourceThe official about page documents eight achievement levels that unlocked LED patterns and CTF flags.
SourceHITB lists 'Are You Human Or Are You Hacker' under What's On the Badge for the special-edition Beijing badge.
SourceThe ARG and retrospective logs describe the Badge Enabled Non Directive Enigma Routine as a serial text-adventure challenge spanning hardware hacking, reverse engineering, cryptography, wireless capture, badge actions, and social collaboration.
SourceThe walkthrough documents Badge Enabled Non Directive Enigma Routine v2.0 as an embedded text-adventure challenge involving software exploitation, firmware clues, hardware interfaces, crypto, radio, and social steps.
SourceThe official PCB Badge guide documents a BadUSB activity path as part of the 2024 badge game surface.
SourceThe badge guide documents BadUSB behavior and script execution as part of the 2025 badge activity surface.
SourceRehrig describes the 0xC badge theme as Contra and the core functionality as a conference-wide laser-tag game.
SourceThe badge mini-games awarded special prizes to the top three daily scores and participation-prize eligibility when attendees crossed stated thresholds.
SourceThe public DEFCON 32 Badge Game repository contains GB Studio project files and graphical assets for the badge's LVCC-themed game.
SourceThe 2025 PCB Badge guide documents a Hacker Pet mode alongside score display and other badge activities.
SourceOne official Badge Challenges path asked attendees to catch all Hackermon and become Hackermon master, with a HITCON CMT 2018 ticket as the award.
SourceHugQuest v1.5 stores HUG tokens, supports mining and sending HUGs, tracks names, and displays token state through the SMART Response XE interface.
SourceThe hunt loop moves a hunter sprite, tracks laser direction from input pins, draws a Bender sprite, and increments score on hits.
SourceHITB lists an IR and 433 MHz packet-decoding game as a badge activity, tying the RF/IR hardware to explicit on-site play.
SourceThe 2019 badge post documents base-station laser-tag behavior and point collection plans.
SourceThe official badge page documents ten badge flags hidden across trivia, reverse engineering, and badge interfaces, submitted through FLAGBOT.
SourceThe second official Badge Challenges path was Master of Snake, also tied to a HITCON CMT 2018 ticket prize.
SourceThe README describes a Stroop-effect color game where positive or negative shock reinforcement can be configured before play.
SourceThe wagon loop draws wagon and mountain sprites, prints the current banner, and increments a displayed score in miles.
SourceThe conference badge game used Wi-Fi beacons scattered around Plexpod Westport for attendee discovery and exploration.
SourceStock firmware challenged attendees to navigate an 8x8x8 maze using the three potentiometers for Z, X, and Y movement.
SourceThe firmware and server trees preserve snake and tetris apps, score-token generation, online scoreboard tables, and bPodUpdater/server packaging.
SourceOfficial preview material documents IR, LCD, LED, audio, and input surfaces intended for badge applications and games.
SourceBadge.Team describes a BornPets virtual pet inspired by Tamagotchi and a mini-game screen as planned badge software for the 2026 camp.
SourceHackRVA documented Badge Monsters and Maze as 2019 badge activities.
SourcePre-event coverage told attendees there would be a prize for the best badge hack, framing the badge as a hackable participant artifact.
SourceThe event page says the badge had enough protoboard area for Arduino Micro or Nano compatible boards, with Arduino Micro compatible boards and boost converters available as donation rewards.
SourceThe 2015 build post documents unpopulated surface-mount pads and a reset-header option for connecting into the board.
SourceHackRVA described standard USB as a way to make post-event reflashing easier.
SourceThe preview describes a bootloader and micro-USB programming path as a goal for post-event hacking.
SourcePublic documentation lists 18650 battery support, buck conversion, WS2812E NeoPixels, and Python spidev examples for LED control from Linux.
SourceThe recovered official wrap-up describes the attendee artifact as an electronic circuit badge distributed at BSides Athens 2024.
SourceThe 39C3 Cyberwatch project is documented as a solderable watch-style base badge that is designed to accept interchangeable shard boards through a modular hardware concept.
SourceThe project documentation describes an SD-card form-factor interface used to carry modular add-on boards in place of fixed accessory ports.
SourceThe official h-c0n badge post says the CTF BADge is a fully functional development board that can be used for personal projects, not only an ornament.
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