Lifecycle
Badge ecosystems keep moving after handout: apps, hexpansions, SAOs, antennas, cases, repair parts, firmware updates, and post-event hardware experiments.
The 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 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 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 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 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 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.
SourceThe badge included multi-badge communication through a wired interface, and the role shapes also formed a seven-piece physical puzzle.
SourceThe project page describes an IoT Bluetooth mesh where badges connected over USB serial could join the conference network and remotely execute badge commands within the badge-game framing.
SourceThe expansion adds two protected 18650 cells, an on/off switch, USB-C charging from the Konsool/Tanmatsu, and mounting holes.
SourceWIRED documented the black Uber badge as a more elaborate artifact with a hand-assembled mechanical watch, exposed aging copper, and one-time-pad puzzle relevance.
SourceThe official workshop hardware summary and repository README document USB-C, two Qwiic ports, a microSD slot, battery management, and battery connector support.
SourceThe badge outline was designed so the arms and legs could be broken out or used as LAN taps.
SourceThe writeup describes the badge head as a USB 3.0 breakout section.
SourceThe dedicated RP2040 firmware repository documents the badge's board-management co-processor as a separate maintained software component.
Sourcenaomi's Breadboard Tester is scoped to breadboard hexpansions and toggles eGPIO and GPIO pins, making hardware bring-up and pin probing part of the app-store lifecycle.
SourceThe SHA2017 docs and Hack42 WebUSB installer preserve the browser-based badge installation path used by the Badge.Team platform.
SourceThe component notes describe socketed LED matrices and ESP8266 modules, header-pin quantities, 3xAA battery testing, USB power as a fallback, and a stated USD 9.44 per-badge cost.
SourceThe standard reserves PROG pins for builder use and lists optional AVR ISP, ST-Link SWD, PIC ICSP, and UART pin mappings.
SourceHackaday's speaker announcement says the four winning Supercon SAO contest entries were being put into the Hackaday Europe 2025 schwag bag.
SourceHackaday documented four included starter petals: capacitive touch wheel, spiral LED petal matrix, blank protoboard, and CH32V003 I2C microcontroller proto-petal.
SourceThe ticket preview lists the Supercon touch wheel, LED spiral, and CH32V003 prototyping boards as included with the Europe badge/add-on bag.
SourceThe Euphoria CTF page directs players to register a Shady Tag at the Shadytel Experience Center before starting the badge challenge.
SourceSputnik/OpenBeacon tags were read by 30+ OpenBeacon base stations installed around the event venue.
SourceThe feedback page records attendee frustration that badge issuing queues were extremely long, turning a simple identity object into a visible camp-operations issue.
SourceThe badge page documents assembly into a regular-mouth canning jar with a CR2032 holder, six LEDs, resistors, and an MSP430G2211 controller.
SourceThe firmware exposed schedule viewing plus AP and schedule-sync modes so attendees could update and interact with camp data from the badge.
SourceThe wiki describes hidden beacons around EMWave/Stubnitz: reaching a clue location and holding the badge near the matching letter lit the corresponding location LED, with progress preserved in EEPROM.
SourceThe case page linked DXF outlines, simple laser-cut enclosures, SMA-compatible variants, 3D-printable cases, and a limited 32C3 screw-and-spacer kit.
SourceThe public CTF repository preserves write-up entry points for Rooting, Mr Bean Walker, BruteSearcher, NoNameCon SpyNet, Ployka PWNer, Binary Hero, and Side Blennel.
SourceThe public hardware tree preserves a badge challenge directory with bitmap, JPEG, PNG, and PSD assets tied to the 2022 badge archive.
SourceThe DC540 write-up ties the package to HC CTF badge material, but this record does not infer unrecovered challenge hardware, firmware, or scoring details.
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