NaClCON 2026 · United States · 2026

NaClCON 2026 3D-Printed NFC Conference Badge

Founder-announced 3D-printed/NFC badge for Pirate Pieces of Eight

NaClCON's official registration included a NaClCON Badge and access to the Pirate Pieces of Eight CTF, while the official schedule listed a CTF and Badge Intro. A public pre-event announcement by founder Luke McOmie (Pyr0) describes a 3D-printed/NFC conference badge for the Pieces of Eight CTF and Pirate Scavenger Hunt. The event later occurred, but no reviewed post-event source directly establishes final badge fabrication, attendee handoff, or the announced NFC implementation, so this is retained as a source-backed pre-event artifact announcement rather than a shipped-hardware claim.

NaClCON Salt Con United States North Carolina Carolina Beach Hacker History Conference Badge 3D Printed NFC CTF Pirate Scavenger Hunt Pre-event Artifact North America

EventNaClCON 2026

SeriesNaClCON

LocationCourtyard by Marriott Carolina Beach Oceanfront, Carolina Beach, North Carolina

CountryUnited States

People

Authors & Credits

NaClCON founder and 3D-printed/NFC badge announcement source

Luke McOmie (Pyr0)

The official event site identifies Pyr0 as the founder of SkyTalks; his public announcement supplies the reviewed 3D-printed/NFC badge wording.

Source

announced NFC CTF and scavenger-hunt host

Matt Aragon

Aragon's public post announces the event's two NFC interactive experiences. This is not a claim that he designed, manufactured, or distributed the NaClCON conference badge.

Source

official event organizer and ticket-page publisher

Bravo 6 Events / NaClCON

The organizer-operated ticket page identifies Bravo 6 Events and preserves the Badge Intro event context.

Source

Why It Mattered

It adds a first-edition North Carolina hacker-history conference to the compendium with a clearly stated physical/digital badge premise and a named CTF relationship. The entry preserves the distinction between the official badge/CTF inclusion, the founder's 3D-print/NFC announcement, and unverified post-event fulfillment rather than filling the gaps with assumed chips, app behavior, or delivery.

Hardware

The founder's public announcement uses the terms 3D printed and NFC for the conference badge. The reviewed sources do not identify whether the NFC element was a card, tag, or embedded component; the tag/chip or NFC standard; reader/writer behavior; antenna; printed material; dimensions; artwork; fastening; power; battery; PCB; display; controller; connectors; production method; unit count; or final physical form. The record therefore does not imply that the NFC term describes a powered electronic badge or a particular protocol.

Software & Apps

Official sources establish badge inclusion, CTF access, and a CTF and Badge Intro. Matt Aragon publicly announced two custom-built NaClCON NFC live experiences: the Pieces of Eight scavenger hunt and a Pirates vs British Navy social-networking game. None of the reviewed sources identifies badge firmware, a mobile or web app, tag payloads, APIs, score or reward logic, account/data handling, source code, a repository, a licence, or results. Aragon's post documents the announced games, not authorship of the printed conference badge.

Lore

NaClCON (pronounced Salt Con) ran May 31-June 2, 2026 at the Courtyard by Marriott Carolina Beach Oceanfront. The official schedule puts a CTF and Badge Intro in the opening ceremony and says it was brought by DEAD MEAT SOCIETY and SHIPSTONE; that schedule credit does not identify either organization as the badge designer or manufacturer. A named attendee later reported the first NaClCON edition had taken place, while the source review found no post-event badge team report or technical release. The event's founder announcement calls the start date May 30, one day earlier than the organizer's official site, schedule, and ticket page; this record follows the three official May 31-June 2 sources.

Lifecycle

Add-ons & Upgrades

announced event-specific NFC experience announced by named host

NFC Pieces of Eight and Pirates vs British Navy games

Matt Aragon announced two custom-built interactive NaClCON experiences: an NFC Scavenger Hunt Pieces of Eight and a Pirates vs British Navy NFC social-networking game. The announcement does not identify which physical event artifact participated in either experience.

Compatibility: NaClCON 2026 live-event context; not evidence of a specific badge chip, protocol, software release, or completed deployment.

Source

badge activity and introduction official registration and schedule

Pirate Pieces of Eight CTF and Badge Intro

Official registration pairs the NaClCON Badge with Pirate Pieces of Eight CTF access, and the official opening schedule lists a CTF and Badge Intro. The sources do not publish a per-badge challenge mapping, scoring mechanism, reward, or final results.

Compatibility: NaClCON 2026 attendee-program context; no specific NFC tag, reader, software client, or credential behavior is documented.

Source

Operational history

Issues & Camp Impact

CTF, game, and authorship boundary note

The official registration pairs a badge and CTF access, the founder says the badge could be used in Pieces of Eight / Pirate Scavenger Hunt play, the official schedule credits DEAD MEAT SOCIETY and SHIPSTONE for a CTF and Badge Intro, and Matt Aragon announces two NFC games. The reviewed sources do not publish the exact badge-to-game mapping, operation, scoring, rewards, results, participant privacy/data flow, or a reliable badge designer/manufacturer attribution.

Schedule and announcement context remains discoverable without attributing badge design to the game host or scheduled organizations, or inventing a finished challenge system.

Confidence: official schedule and named first-hand announcements
Status: activity relationship source-backed; artifact roles unresolved
Timeframe: 2026 source review
Source note: NaClCON registration and schedule, Luke McOmie announcement, and Matt Aragon announcement.

NFC hardware and implementation gap note

The founder's announcement calls the conference badge 3D printed/NFC, but no reviewed source identifies tag/card/embedded form, standard, chip, reader behavior, antenna, encoding, data flow, power, PCB, MCU, app, firmware, API, source code, licence, privacy model, or security properties.

The catalogue does not turn the word NFC into claims about a powered electronic badge, a contactless credential, a specific radio protocol, personal-data handling, or a reproducible implementation.

Confidence: founder announcement only
Status: 3D-print/NFC terms announced; technical details unreleased
Timeframe: 2026 post-event follow-up
Source note: Luke McOmie NaClCON 2026 conference announcement.

missing rights-cleared image note

No NaClCON 2026 badge image is published because the official event pages, ticketing, organizer announcement, game-host post, and attendee report do not pair a specific factual badge image with a reusable licence or explicit permission basis, attribution, source URL, and processing record.

The North Carolina dossier remains source-backed and image-free rather than copying official page graphics, social-media images, attendee photos, screenshots, event branding, or generated approximations.

Confidence: local project policy
Status: needs licensed original replacement
Timeframe: current catalogue build
Source note: badge.gallery image policy and the NaClCON 2026 source set.

pre-event artifact fulfillment gap note

Official pages promised a NaClCON Badge and CTF access, and the founder announced a 3D-printed/NFC conference badge before the event. A named attendee confirms the first convention happened, but the reviewed post-event sources do not directly confirm final fabrication, how many badges existed, attendee handoff, reuse, losses, replacements, variants, or whether the announced 3D-print/NFC form was delivered.

The record can preserve a concrete pre-event artifact claim without presenting planning language or an event-completion report as proof of universal delivery or a final production configuration.

Confidence: official inclusion pages and founder announcement
Status: event completed; exact artifact fulfilment unpublished
Timeframe: 2026 post-event follow-up
Source note: NaClCON registration, schedule, founder announcement, and named attendee report.

source date discrepancy note

The official NaClCON site, registration page, schedule, and organizer ticketing all give May 31-June 2, 2026, while the founder's badge announcement says May 30-June 2. No reviewed source explains the one-day difference.

The event and badge record follow the repeated official May 31-June 2 date while preserving the conflicting first-hand pre-event wording for future archive recovery.

Confidence: official pages and founder announcement
Status: official date retained
Timeframe: 2026 event-date source review
Source note: NaClCON official pages, Multipass ticket page, and Luke McOmie announcement.

Resources

Luke McOmie NaClCON badge announcement first-hand organizer announcement · The event founder's public pre-event announcement calls the artifact a 3D-printed/NFC conference badge and says it can be used in the Pieces of Eight CTF / Pirate Scavenger Hunt. It is not a post-event manufacturing or technical release. Matt Aragon NaClCON NFC-game announcement first-hand event-game announcement · Aragon publicly announced custom-built NaClCON NFC Scavenger Hunt Pieces of Eight and Pirates vs British Navy interactive social-networking games. His post does not establish that he designed or issued the conference badge. NaClCON 2026 registration official registration page · Primary inclusion source: regular admission explicitly includes a NaClCON Badge and access to the Pirate Pieces of Eight CTF, alongside the official May 31-June 2 Carolina Beach event context. NaClCON 2026 schedule official schedule · Primary event-program source: the opening ceremony listed a CTF and Badge Intro brought by DEAD MEAT SOCIETY and SHIPSTONE. It does not specify badge hardware, manufacture, or final attendee delivery. NaClCON 2026 ticket page official organizer ticketing · Organizer-operated ticket page marked sales closed and listed the May 31 opening ceremony and Badge Intro. It confirms the event/ticket context but does not disclose a badge design or final fulfilment ledger. Robert Huba NaClCON attendee report named post-event attendee report · A named attendee reports that the first NaClCON convention took place in Carolina Beach. The account corroborates completion of the event, not an individual badge's receipt, fabrication, NFC behavior, or image licence.

Sources

Bravo 6 Events / NaClCON: NaClCON tickets on Multipass Retrieved 2026-05-15 · Organizer ticketing source for the closed-sale event and the opening Badge Intro. It does not describe final badge material or technology. Luke McOmie: NaClCON 2026 conference announcement Retrieved 2026-05-15 · First-hand founder announcement that specifically says 3D-printed/NFC conference badge and ties it to Pieces of Eight / Pirate Scavenger Hunt play; the stated May 30 start conflicts with the official May 31 start date. Matt Aragon: Matt Aragon NaClCON NFC-game announcement Retrieved 2026-05-15 · Named live-game host's public announcement of the NaClCON NFC scavenger-hunt and social-networking experiences, without a badge-manufacturing or software-release claim. NaClCON: NaClCON Registration Retrieved 2026-05-15 · Primary official evidence that regular admission included a NaClCON Badge and access to the Pirate Pieces of Eight CTF. NaClCON: NaClCON Schedule Retrieved 2026-05-15 · Primary official program source for the May 31 opening CTF and Badge Intro and the schedule's DEAD MEAT SOCIETY / SHIPSTONE credit. Robert Huba: NaClCON first-edition attendee report Retrieved 2026-05-15 · Named post-event attendee account corroborating that the first NaClCON convention occurred. It does not confirm badge issuance or technical behavior.