DEFCON China 1.0 · China · 2019

DEFCON China 1.0 Badge

Flexible-PCB tree-game badge

A Grand Idea Studio badge for the first official international DEFCON edition, built as an artistic flexible-substrate PCB with 32 LEDs, USB connectivity, accelerometer input, role-color artwork variants, and a task-completion tree-lighting game.

DEFCON China China ATmega328P Flexible PCB Accelerometer USB LED Tree Game Asia

DEFCON China 1.0 Badge: Flexible-PCB tree-game badge

EventDEFCON China 1.0

SeriesDEFCON China

LocationBeijing

CountryChina

Image Provenance

Asset: optimized WebP from official project-page photo
Status: licensed original photo
Source: dcn1_bdg_img1.webp
License: Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International
Attribution: Grand Idea Studio / Joe Grand
Notes: Original 1400x854 official DEFCON China 1.0 project-page WebP downloaded from Grand Idea Studio and preserved in Public/images/source. The published WebP delivery asset is auto-oriented, metadata-stripped, recompressed at quality 82, and otherwise kept as the real upstream badge photo. The Grand Idea Studio DEFCON China 1.0 Badge page states that all designs are distributed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license; 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

badge design studio and documentation publisher

Grand Idea Studio

Publisher of the official project page, design files, schematic, block diagram, slides, workshop material, source-code links, and support-hardware documentation.

Source

badge designer and presenter

Joe Grand / Kingpin

Grand Idea Studio and InfoconDB identify Joe Grand as the DEFCON China 1.0 badge creator and presentation speaker.

Source

event publisher

DEFCON China

The official international DEFCON edition for which the badge was created.

Source

Why It Mattered

It brings mainland China into the worldwide compendium and documents DEF CON badge culture crossing from Las Vegas into an international edition while preserving Joe Grand's open design-file workflow.

Hardware

The badge is a flexible printed circuit board with an ATmega328P/Arduino Mini class controller at 3.3 V and 8 MHz, LIS3DH accelerometer, FT231X USB serial bridge, 32 LEDs driven through 74HC595 logic, FPC edge connector, and CR2032 power, with 3,300 manufactured badges across Human, Speaker, Village, Goon, Press, and Sponsor artwork variants, per Grand Idea Studio's project page and block diagram.

Software & Apps

The firmware's main behavior is a game where attendees illuminate the tree by completing conference tasks, per public descriptions. The official project page also links Arduino Pro Mini source code, Raspberry Pi programming scripts, test procedure material, creation slides, demo videos, and badge-hacking workshop slides.

Lore

The badge intentionally used an approachable game instead of an opaque puzzle because many DEFCON China attendees were new to hacker events. The same task-completion idea later informed the DEF CON 27 crystal badge quest.

Lifecycle

Add-ons & Upgrades

event game source-backed

Tree-lighting conference task game

Attendees illuminated roots and branches of the badge's tree by completing conference tasks, with completion turning the badge into a sparkling tree display.

Compatibility: DEFCON China 1.0 Badge

Source

hardware architecture source-backed

Flexible-PCB hardware stack

The badge used a flexible substrate PCB with ATmega328P control, accelerometer input, USB serial, CR2032 power, and 32 LEDs driven through shift-register logic.

Compatibility: DEFCON China 1.0 Badge

Source

hardware expansion source-backed

FPC shield and breakout ecosystem

Grand Idea Studio published shield and breakout documentation, Gerbers, OSH Park links, and Arduino Uno source so attendees could isolate and hack the flexible badge hardware.

Compatibility: DEFCON China 1.0 Badge

Source

workshop source-backed

Badge hacking workshop path

The official workshop slides documented guided hacking paths for attendees working with the flexible-PCB badge and related hardware.

Compatibility: DEFCON China 1.0 Badge

Source

Operational history

Issues & Camp Impact

image provenance upgrade note

The DEFCON China 1.0 visual uses Grand Idea Studio's official `dcn1_bdg_img1.webp` badge photo under the project page's Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International design-license statement.

The public badge page, image archive, and API now point at a real upstream badge photo with source URL, license, attribution, and processing notes preserved.

Confidence: official page license and exact raster source
Status: licensed original replacement applied
Timeframe: current catalogue build
Source note: Grand Idea Studio DEFCON China 1.0 Badge page, official image URL, and badge.gallery image policy.

Resources

Creating the DEFCON China 1.0 Badge slides slides · Joe Grand slide deck for concept, prototyping, manufacturing, and production challenges behind the badge. DEFCON China 1.0 badge hacking workshop workshop slides · Workshop slide source for attendee hacking paths around the flexible PCB badge and support hardware. DEFCON China 1.0 badge photo image source · Official Grand Idea Studio project-page WebP used as the local rights-cleared badge image under the project page's CC BY 4.0 design-license statement. DEFCON China 1.0 badge project page project page · Grand Idea Studio project page documenting the first official international DEFCON badge, flexible PCB, tree game, USB, accelerometer, CR2032 power, 3,300-unit production, role variants, CC BY 4.0 design license, and documentation links. DEFCON China 1.0 block diagram hardware source · Block diagram source for ATmega328P/Arduino Mini core, LIS3DH accelerometer, FT231X USB serial bridge, 32 LEDs, 74HC595 LED driver, FPC edge connector, MCP1700 regulator, and CR2032 power. DEFCON China 1.0 schematic hardware source · Schematic source for USB, MCU, accelerometer, LED matrix, FPC, SAO-related wiring, battery, regulator, and CC BY 4.0 distribution statement. InfoconDB talk record talk record · Talk record documenting the May 31, 2019 Creating the DEFCON China 1.0 Badge presentation and Joe Grand presenter credit.

Sources

Grand Idea Studio: DEFCON China 1.0 Badge Retrieved 2026-05-15 · Primary source for first-official-international-DEFCON claim, flexible-substrate PCB, tree-lighting game, USB, accelerometer, CR2032 power, 3,300 badges, role variants, CC BY 4.0 design license, and documentation set. Grand Idea Studio: dcn1_bdg_img1.webp Retrieved 2026-05-15 · Image-provenance source for the official DEFCON China 1.0 badge photo published on the Grand Idea Studio project page; the page states that all designs are distributed under Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International. Grand Idea Studio: DEFCON China 1.0 Badge Block Diagram Retrieved 2026-05-15 · Primary hardware source for ATmega328P/Arduino Mini, LIS3DH, FT231X, 32 LEDs, 74HC595 LED driver, FPC edge connector, MCP1700 regulator, and coin-cell power architecture. Grand Idea Studio: DEFCON China 1.0 Badge Schematic Retrieved 2026-05-15 · Primary schematic source for component-level wiring and CC BY 4.0 design-file distribution. Grand Idea Studio: Creating the DEFCON China 1.0 Badge Retrieved 2026-05-15 · Primary slide source for badge concept, prototyping, manufacturing, and production-process context. InfoconDB: Creating the DEFCON China 1.0 Badge Retrieved 2026-05-15 · Talk metadata source for presentation date, first DEFCON China event context, and Joe Grand presenter attribution.