Hacker Con Badges

HackerHotel 2027 · Netherlands · 2027

HackerHotel 2027 Badge

Planned Badge.Team badge: ESP32-P4 ambition versus CH643 starfish board in layout

A pre-event record for the February 19-21, 2027 HackerHotel badge. Badge.Team's homepage still advertises LoRa, a keyboard, a big screen, and an ESP32-P4-class processor, while the official badgeteam/hackerhotel2027-hardware repository, under active layout work by Renze Nicolai and Julian Scheffers since September 2026, holds a CERN-OHL-P-2.0 KiCad design for a starfish-shaped CH643 LED-matrix board with infrared and LiPo charging, with a prototype-1 Gerber and assembly package committed on October 22, 2026. Which direction ships is not yet stated.

Badge.Team HackerHotel planned LoRa Keyboard ESP32-P4 CH643 LED Matrix Infrared Open Hardware Netherlands
EventHackerHotel 2027
SeriesBadge.Team Adjacent Events
LocationHotel Zuiderduin, Zeeweg 52, Egmond aan Zee
CountryNetherlands

People

Authors & Credits

LED routing committer

Julian Scheffers

Author of the October 11-12, 2026 LED routing commits in the Badge.Team repository.

Source

hardware design committer

Renze Nicolai

Author of the initial commit, schematic and component work, battery, infrared, header, and button additions, most layout commits, and the October 22, 2026 prototype-1 package in the Badge.Team repository.

Source

theoretical firmware author (unofficial)

Anne Jan Brouwer

Publishes untested Rust and C firmware and an emulator for the starfish board; not presented as the official badge firmware.

Source

Why It Mattered

This belongs in badge.gallery as a living-platform watch item: Badge.Team is designing in public months before the event, and the two public descriptions show how a badge concept can move under budget pressure before delivery.

Hardware

Two Badge.Team sources disagree. The homepage names LoRa, a keyboard, a big screen, and ESP32-P4 as the ambition and calls fitting it into budget the next challenge. The badgeteam/hackerhotel2027-hardware repository (created September 14, 2026; schematic revision 1 dated October 22, 2026) is a starfish-outline board. Its production BOM lists a WCH CH643Q RISC-V LED-matrix controller, 279 single-colour 0402 LEDs and 35 NH-B1515 RGB LEDs, four push buttons, a USB-C receptacle with ESD protection, an infrared LED and 38 kHz receiver, a LiPo connector with charger, a 6-pin 1.27 mm debug header, and a Badge.Team stamp. On October 22, 2026 Renze Nicolai committed basic routing and then a final push for prototype 1 with regenerated six-layer Gerbers, BOM, and placement files that again place all 314 LEDs. This is a prototype package, not a tagged production release.

Software & Apps

No official firmware is public. Badge.Team member Anne Jan Brouwer's separate hackerhotel2027-firmware repository is explicitly theoretical: Rust and C firmware for the CH643 starfish board with games, a name tag, infrared name swap, and a WebUSB setup page that compiles and runs in an emulator but has never run on a board.

Lore

HackerHotel is a yearly February hacker event in the Netherlands. Badge.Team's homepage still places it at hotel de Werelt on the Veluwe, but the official site lists Hotel Zuiderduin in Egmond aan Zee for 2027 and notes higher prices after a VAT increase on hotel rooms. The 2027 badge is in Badge.Team's electronic-design and firmware phase.

Lifecycle

Add-ons & Upgrades

project lifecycle pre-event

Budget and prototyping phases

The project is publicly shown in staged progress from idea collection through prototyping, electronic design, firmware, and delivery, with budget fit called out as the next challenge.

Compatibility: HackerHotel 2027 Badge

Source

Operational history

Issues & Camp Impact

conflicting design direction note

Badge.Team's homepage still promises LoRa, a keyboard, a big screen, and an ESP32-P4, while the official hardware repository's active design is a CH643 LED-matrix starfish with infrared and no screen, keyboard, or radio. The starfish reached a prototype-1 fabrication package on October 22, 2026, but neither source says whether it replaces the ESP32-P4 plan, is a second board, or is an interim prototype.

The record lists both descriptions with attribution and makes no claim about which hardware attendees will receive.

Confidence
two Badge.Team sources
Status
unresolved
Timeframe
pre-event as of 2026-10-23
Source note
Badge.Team homepage and badgeteam/hackerhotel2027-hardware, checked 2026-10-23.
missing rights-cleared image note

No HackerHotel 2027 badge image is published because the current pre-event source trail has not been paired with a reusable original badge photo or official upstream raster render with source URL, license or permission basis, attribution, and processing notes.

The planned record remains source-backed and image-free rather than copying Badge.Team page media, event-site media, placeholders, or generated approximations.

Confidence
local project policy
Status
needs licensed original replacement
Timeframe
current catalogue build
Source note
badge.gallery image policy, Badge.Team homepage current-project listing, and HackerHotel event site.
pre-event coverage note

The public record names ambitions and project phases plus a Badge.Team KiCad design that reached a prototype-1 fabrication package on October 22, 2026, but no tagged hardware release, official firmware, app ecosystem, production run, or shipped badge.

badge.gallery should track the planned badge without overstating it as a delivered artifact.

Confidence
current project page
Status
incomplete current record
Timeframe
before HackerHotel 2027
Source note
Badge.Team homepage current-project listing and badgeteam/hackerhotel2027-hardware, checked 2026-10-23.

Resources

Badge.Team current projects current project page · Badge.Team homepage advertising HackerHotel 2027 badge ambitions and project phases. HackerHotel event site · Official event site for HackerHotel context. Hardware commit history design progress log · Commits by Renze Nicolai and Julian Scheffers from September 14 to October 22, 2026: initial commit, LCSC part numbers, switch to the WCH LED-matrix controller with many more LEDs, battery circuit, LED routing, infrared, programming and UART headers, buttons, a moved IR section and different debug connector, on October 18 a change to a six-layer board with some LEDs temporarily removed, 0 unrouted, and no DRC errors, and on October 22 basic routing done followed by the final push for prototype 1. Hardware license license · CERN Open Hardware Licence Version 2 - Permissive, added October 11, 2026. It covers the design files; the repository holds no badge photo. Prototype 1 commit prototype fabrication package · Renze Nicolai's October 22, 2026 commit, titled as his final push for prototype 1. It sets schematic revision 1 dated October 22, adds Badge.Team stamp footprints, replaces the separate UART and debug headers and CC solder jumpers with one 6-pin 1.27 mm debug header, and regenerates the six-layer Gerber zip (F.Cu, four inner layers, B.Cu), BOM, IPC netlist, and placement file. The placement file lists all 314 LEDs, the IR LED, and four switches. The commit does not say where, when, or in what quantity prototypes are made. badgeteam/hackerhotel2027-hardware official work-in-progress hardware repository · Badge.Team KiCad project for a starfish-shaped HackerHotel 2027 board: schematic, PCB, starfish outline and silkscreen artwork, CH643, infrared, LED, and push-button libraries, and a production folder with BOM, positions, and netlist. Layout was still being routed on October 17, 2026; an October 18 commit reports a six-layer board with 0 unrouted connections and no DRC errors after some LEDs were temporarily removed, and on October 22 the production folder gained a prototype-1 Gerber, BOM, and placement package. hackerhotel2027-firmware (theoretical) unofficial firmware experiment · MIT-licensed Rust and C firmware by Anne Jan Brouwer for the CH643 starfish board, created October 12, 2026: games, name tag, infrared name swap and four-in-a-row, factory and bring-up tests, a WebUSB setup page, and a PC emulator. Its README says it compiles but has never run on a board and that the USB port is not tested on a CH643.

Sources

Anne Jan Brouwer / GitHub: hh27-starfish firmware (theoretical) Retrieved 2026-10-17 · Secondary first-hand source by a Badge.Team member that ties the starfish board to Hacker Hotel 2027, lists the LED matrix wiring, buttons, IR, LiPo charger, and debug pins, and names the hardware repository; it is explicitly theoretical and untested on hardware, so it does not document official firmware. Badge.Team: HackerHotel 2027 Retrieved 2026-05-15 · Primary current source for LoRa, keyboard, big screen, ESP32-P4, budget challenge, and project phase status. Badge.Team / GitHub: hackerhotel2027-hardware Retrieved 2026-10-23 · Primary Badge.Team design source for the CH643Q LED-matrix controller, 279 single-colour and 35 RGB LEDs, USB-C with ESD protection, infrared LED and receiver, LiPo connector and charger, four tactile switches, a 6-pin 1.27 mm debug header, and starfish outline, as listed in the October 22, 2026 prototype-1 BOM. That package is six-layer and places all 314 LEDs, after the October 18 commit had temporarily removed some LEDs from the layout. No production release is tagged, and the repository does not show which design attendees will receive. HackerHotel: HackerHotel Retrieved 2026-10-17 · Official event site giving February 19-21, 2027 and Hotel Zuiderduin, Zeeweg 52, Egmond aan Zee as the 2027 dates and venue, with room-based ticket prices. It does not mention the badge.