AvengerCon VIII · United States · 2024

AvengerCon VIII 8-8-8 Badge

First AvengerCon electronic scavenger-hunt badge

The AvengerCon VIII 8-8-8 badge was the conference's first electronic badge, documented by U.S. Army public-affairs coverage as a scavenger-hunt badge where attendees collected codes to light LEDs or hacked the badge to bypass the contest.

AvengerCon United States Augusta Georgia Army Cyber Electronic Badge Scavenger Hunt LEDs 8-8-8 Badge North America

EventAvengerCon VIII

SeriesAvengerCon

LocationGeorgia Cyber Innovation & Training Center, Augusta, Georgia

CountryUnited States

People

Authors & Credits

8-8-8 badge developer and maker

Capt. Richard Shmel

The U.S. Army article says Capt. Richard Shmel personally developed and made more than 300 AvengerCon VIII electronic badges.

Source

Army public-affairs article author

Steven Stover

Author of the U.S. Army public-affairs source documenting the AvengerCon VIII event and 8-8-8 badge.

Source

Why It Mattered

It adds a military cyber-community hacker-conference lineage to the compendium while preserving the source boundary: the public record proves the electronic badge, scavenger-hunt behavior, more-than-300 badge build, and named maker, but not a public schematic, firmware repository, BOM, or reusable badge image.

Hardware

The U.S. Army article identifies the 8-8-8 badge as the first electronic AvengerCon badge, says all in-person attendees received one until supplies ran out, and says Capt. Richard Shmel personally developed and made more than 300 electronic badges. The article does not publish a controller, PCB, component list, schematic, firmware archive, battery details, or final manufacturing files.

Software & Apps

The badge doubled as a scavenger hunt: attendees could collect codes and light LEDs, or hack the badge to bypass the contest. No public firmware, source repository, protocol documentation, or challenge binary archive was recovered in this pass.

Lore

AvengerCon VIII took place February 28-29, 2024 at the Georgia Cyber Innovation & Training Center in Augusta. The record keeps the conference's U.S. Army Cyber / 780th Military Intelligence Brigade context separate from unsupported public hardware claims.

Lifecycle

Add-ons & Upgrades

badge challenge source-backed

Scavenger-hunt LED code path

The badge doubled as a scavenger hunt where attendees collected codes to light the LEDs.

Compatibility: AvengerCon VIII 8-8-8 Badge

Source

challenge bypass source-backed

Hack-the-badge bypass path

The same public source says participants could hack the badge and bypass the contest altogether.

Compatibility: AvengerCon VIII 8-8-8 Badge

Source

lineage milestone source-backed

First AvengerCon electronic badge

U.S. Army coverage identifies the 2024 8-8-8 badge as AvengerCon's first electronic badge.

Compatibility: AvengerCon VIII 8-8-8 Badge

Source

production note source-backed

More-than-300 badge build

The Army article says Capt. Richard Shmel personally developed and made more than 300 electronic badges for AvengerCon VIII.

Compatibility: AvengerCon VIII 8-8-8 Badge

Source

Operational history

Issues & Camp Impact

missing rights-cleared image note

No AvengerCon VIII 8-8-8 badge image is published because this pass did not establish a reusable original badge photo or official raster render with source URL, license or permission basis, attribution, and processing notes.

The entry remains source-backed and image-free rather than copying Army article media, event photos, social posts, screenshots, or generated visuals.

Confidence: local project policy
Status: needs licensed original replacement
Timeframe: current catalogue build
Source note: badge.gallery image policy and U.S. Army AvengerCon VIII article.

technical-source gap note

The public Army source proves the first electronic AvengerCon badge, 8-8-8 naming, scavenger-hunt behavior, hack-bypass option, in-person distribution until supplies ran out, more-than-300 build, and Capt. Richard Shmel maker credit, but it does not publish schematics, BOM, firmware, controller identity, protocol docs, or manufacturing files.

The catalogue records the verified badge lineage without inventing component-level details or open-source status.

Confidence: source-backed but incomplete
Status: needs deeper archive recovery
Timeframe: current AvengerCon pass
Source note: U.S. Army AvengerCon VIII public-affairs article.

Resources

AvengerCon VIII Army Cyber article public-affairs article · U.S. Army public-affairs source for the February 28-29, 2024 Georgia Cyber Innovation & Training Center event, first AvengerCon electronic 8-8-8 badge, scavenger-hunt behavior, LED-code path, hack-bypass path, more-than-300 badge build, and Capt. Richard Shmel credit. AvengerCon history page official history · Official AvengerCon source for the lineage from the 2016 internal Fort Meade training event through the Augusta-era AvengerCon VIII and IX editions.

Sources

AvengerCon: AvengerCon history Retrieved 2026-05-15 · Official lineage source for AvengerCon's 2016 origin, growth across U.S. Cyber Command units and partners, and the Augusta-era AvengerCon VIII and IX entries. U.S. Army: AvengerCon VIII: Army Cyber's homegrown hacker-con returns Retrieved 2026-05-15 · Primary public-affairs source for the February 28-29, 2024 Georgia Cyber Innovation & Training Center event, first AvengerCon electronic badge, 8-8-8 badge name, scavenger-hunt LED-code path, hack-bypass path, in-person attendee distribution until supplies ran out, more-than-300 badge build, and Capt. Richard Shmel maker credit.