DEF CON 22 · United States · 2014

DEF CON 22 Badge

Propeller 1 infrared puzzle and contest badge

A Parallax-built official DEF CON badge for DEF CON 22, based on the Propeller 1, infrared transmit/receive hardware, touch-pad buttons, LEDs, full USB programming, exposed I/O, and thirteen attendee-role styles.

DEF CON United States Propeller 1 Parallax Infrared Touch Pads LED Badge Contest Las Vegas North America

EventDEF CON 22

SeriesDEF CON

LocationRio Hotel & Casino, Las Vegas, Nevada

CountryUnited States

Image Provenance

Asset: optimized WebP from Wikimedia Commons photo
Status: licensed original photo
Source: DEF CON 22 defcon badge 2014-08-10 1407688220.jpg
License: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International
Attribution: Tony Webster, Wikimedia Commons
Notes: Original 3264x2448 Wikimedia Commons photo downloaded from File:DEF CON 22 defcon badge 2014-08-10 1407688220.jpg and preserved in Public/images/source. The published WebP delivery asset is resized to 1600x1200 and otherwise kept as the real CC BY-SA 4.0 badge photo. The Commons description identifies it as a DEF CON 22 badge photo by Tony Webster; this is not generated content or a placeholder. The published badge.gallery delivery file is an optimized WebP generated from the rights-cleared local derivative/source with metadata stripped, WebP quality 82, and a maximum side cap of 1600 pixels when the source is larger; upstream source URL, license, and attribution remain unchanged.

People

Authors & Credits

CC BY-SA badge photographer

Tony Webster

Wikimedia Commons identifies Tony Webster as the author and copyright holder of the DEF CON 22 badge photo and states the image is released under CC BY-SA 4.0.

Source

DEF CON founder and badge direction

Jeff Moss / The Dark Tangent

Parallax says the DEF CON 22 badge was made under Jeff Moss's direction.

Source

Propeller badge code

Jon McPhalen / J0nnyMac

Parallax identifies Jon McPhalen as the Propeller coder involved in the DEF CON 22 badge concept and implementation.

Source

badge producer and documentation publisher

Parallax

Parallax documents producing the DEF CON 22 badge, including hardware, production schedule, and software/support context.

Source

contest lead and badge concept

Ryan Clarke / LosT

Parallax identifies Ryan Clarke as contest leader and concept contributor for the DEF CON 22 badge.

Source

Why It Mattered

It captures a high-volume North American official-badge year where the badge was simultaneously an entry ticket, a conference-wide puzzle device, a contest tool, and a reusable embedded-development board.

Hardware

Parallax documents a Propeller 1 circuit, infrared transmitter and receiver, touch-pad buttons, LEDs, a complete USB programming circuit, full access to I/O pins, power and ground, thirteen badge styles, and 14,000 assembled PCBs produced in roughly 60 days.

Software & Apps

DEF CON's archive points attendees to C-style badge code on the Parallax forums and a torrent of badge-hacking files. Parallax's badge-download area preserves Propeller Spin and C examples, BadgeHacker customization tooling, schematics, design files, and programmer guides for the related hackable electronic badge platform.

Lore

The badge concept came from DEF CON founder Jeff Moss, contest lead Ryan Clarke / LosT, and Propeller coder Jon McPhalen / J0nnyMac, tying the DEF CON 22 They Live theme to cryptology, social engineering, programming, and attendee interaction.

Lifecycle

Add-ons & Upgrades

event challenge historical

Propeller 1 badge puzzle platform

The badge was a required tool for DEF CON's largest contest, connecting cryptology, social engineering, programming, and attendee interaction to the official entry badge.

Compatibility: DEF CON 22 Badge

Source

firmware workflow archived

C-style badge code release

DEF CON's archive announced C-style badge code and a badge-hacking-file torrent so attendees could continue writing and studying badge software after the conference.

Compatibility: DEF CON 22 Badge

Source

hardware interface source-backed

Infrared and touch interaction stack

The badge exposed infrared transmit/receive hardware, touch-pad buttons, LEDs, USB programming, and accessible I/O so attendees could interact during the event and keep hacking afterward.

Compatibility: DEF CON 22 Badge

Source

Operational history

Issues & Camp Impact

image provenance note

The local DEF CON 22 image is Tony Webster's Wikimedia Commons badge photograph under CC BY-SA 4.0.

The entry now has a rights-cleared original documentary photo without using generated, placeholder, or uncleared event imagery.

Confidence: Wikimedia Commons license metadata
Status: cleared
Timeframe: current catalogue build
Source note: Wikimedia Commons file page for DEF CON 22 defcon badge 2014-08-10 1407688220.jpg.

software archive depth note

DEF CON points to Parallax forum code and badge-hacking torrents, while this pass records the existence of the release rather than unpacking every firmware artifact.

The record preserves verified software-release context and leaves deeper artifact inventory as an archive task.

Confidence: source-backed but incomplete
Status: needs deeper archive recovery
Timeframe: current DEF CON 22 pass
Source note: DEF CON 22 event archive and Parallax badge downloads.

Resources

DEF CON 22 badge Commons photo licensed photo · Wikimedia Commons source for Tony Webster's CC BY-SA 4.0 photograph of a DEF CON 22 badge. DEF CON 22 event archive event page · Official DEF CON archive source for August 7-10, 2014 Rio Hotel & Casino event context, DEF CON 22 badge news, C-style code release, and badge-hacking-file torrent. DEFCON 22 Conference Badge project retrospective · Parallax source for Propeller 1 hardware, IR, touch pads, LEDs, USB programming circuit, exposed I/O, 13 badge styles, 14,000-board production, and named concept contributors. Parallax badge downloads software and hardware archive · Parallax download archive preserving Hackable Electronic Badge product guide, schematic, BadgeHacker customization tooling, Propeller Spin/C examples, and design files for the related badge platform.

Sources

DEF CON: DEF CON 22 Hacking Conference Retrieved 2026-05-15 · Official event archive source for dates, venue, badge-code release note, badge-hacking-file torrent, and Hardware Hacking Village context. Parallax: DEFCON 22 Conference Badge Retrieved 2026-05-15 · Primary supplier/designer source for Propeller 1, IR transmit/receive, touch-pad buttons, LEDs, USB programming, exposed I/O, 13 badge styles, 14,000 assembled PCBs, contributor names, and contest role. Parallax: Badge Downloads & Software Retrieved 2026-05-15 · Primary Parallax archive source for supported badge software, schematics, product guide, C/Spin examples, BadgeHacker tooling, and design files for the related hackable electronic badge platform. Wikimedia Commons: DEF CON 22 defcon badge 2014-08-10 1407688220.jpg Retrieved 2026-05-15 · CC BY-SA 4.0 source image for Tony Webster's original photograph of a DEF CON 22 badge; used only for image provenance, not as a hardware-spec source.