Issue dossier
A linkable camp-impact record with badge context, severity, evidence confidence, and source notes.
The record does not claim that all 1,750 badges reached hackers working on day one; the writeup does not say how the 25 late boards were handled.
Evidence
Attendee Lua raycasting shooter built against the badge's documented sandbox APIs, confirming the stock Lua app sandbox and public badge API surface.
Attendee Hack the North 2026 badge app for creating 12x12 colored images, further corroborating the hackable badge platform distributed at the event.
Attendee ESP-IDF replacement firmware describing the badge hardware: ESP32-C3, 320x240 ST7789 display, eight buttons, SC7A20 accelerometer, WS2812B LEDs, stock Lua sandbox, and ESP-NOW peer-to-peer messaging.
GPL-3.0 community project created October 19, 2026 that turns the badge into a standalone Game Boy Color handheld running Pokémon Crystal on a Peanut-GB fork, with asynchronous LCD DMA, flash saves, USB diagnostics, and game-driven RGB LEDs, tested on a physical badge. It does not include the game ROM.
Browser emulator linked from the designer writeup that runs the badge's real firmware compiled to WebAssembly.
Nick Ficara's October 13, 2026 first-hand account of the badge project from a January pitch through EVT, DVT, PVT, and the production run at JLCPCB: 1,750 populated badges for hackers plus 750 blank boards for volunteers, about 20,300 USD in total, the design errors found at each stage, the overnight preparation, and usage and survey figures from the event.
Hackaday post by Jenny List, October 16, 2026, summarising the designer writeup: 1,750 badges, wrong footprints, misplaced components, power-supply issues, and rotated parts fixed before delivery, and badges that were well received and well used at the event.
Browser IDE linked from the official firmware README for installing Lua apps on the badge over USB without reflashing firmware.
Opening-ceremony manual covering AA power, button layout, the boot QR code used for check-ins and food, sticker scanning, badge bumping in the Connect app, sync stations at the Badge Help Desk, the Solana hunt, the Saturday Badge Workshop, care, and battery and heat safety.
Official Devpost page for the September 18-20, 2026 invite-only 36-hour hackathon at the University of Waterloo, with QR-coded attendee badge IDs in the submission rules and the Solana Best Badge Hack prize inviting attendees to build something creative with their Hack the North badge.
Hack the North's GPL-3.0 ESP-IDF firmware for the 2026 Hacker Badge, published October 13-14, 2026, with the launcher, built-in apps and games, unlock progression, Lua runtime, Solana Scavenger Hunt BLE relay and server tools, web flasher, and docs.
Hack the North's KiCad project for the 2026 Hacker Badge (schematic, PCB, and project files), published October 13-14, 2026 in an Open source hardware release commit. No licence file is included.
Source trail
Official event source for the September 18-20, 2026 dates, Engineering 5 / University of Waterloo venue, 1000+ students in 36 hours framing, ended status, QR-coded badge IDs, and the 2,500 USD Best Badge Hack sponsor prize.
Primary organizer attendee-facing source for AA battery power, the QR ID used for check-ins and meals, sticker scanning, badge bumping, sync stations, the Badge Help Desk, the no-replacement policy, and heat and battery safety instructions.
Primary organizer firmware source (GPL-3.0, ESP32-C3 target, ESP-IDF 5.5.3) for the launcher and app order, unlockable apps, NFC and BLE features, the statement that the badge has no Wi-Fi or HTTP stack, the BLE extended-advertising scavenger-hunt protocol and relays, and the Lua app runtime.
Primary organizer hardware source: KiCad schematic titled Hacker Badge, rev 0.0.2, dated March 22, 2026, listing the ESP32-C3-MINI-1-N4, MFRC522, SC7A20, 74HC165 button shift register, WS2812B-2020 LEDs with level shifter, FPC display connector, USB-C, LM66200 power mux, MT3608 boost, XC6220 regulator, and AA battery holder. It does not state a production count or a hardware licence.
Secondary media source corroborating the 1,750-badge quantity, the class of manufacturing errors, and on-time delivery.
Primary first-hand designer source for the production quantity (1,750 populated badges and 750 blank volunteer boards ordered June 30, 2026), JLCPCB assembly, cost (14,338.40 USD assembly order, 5,958.61 USD pre-ordered parts, 570.70 USD blanks), the PVT reverse-battery smoke and rotated NFC and power chips, the added reverse-polarity FET, the 25 screens that failed testing on August 10, distribution with a crash course at opening ceremonies, and closing figures of 11,700 badge bumps, 40,000 sponsor-table scans, 540 Solana blind-box scans, and 120 app hacks. It discloses partial JLCPCB and EasyEDA sponsorship.
Primary hardware source for the ESP32-C3, ST7789 320x240 display, eight buttons, SC7A20 accelerometer, WS2812B LEDs, Lua sandbox, and ESP-NOW stack as described by an attendee who replaced the stock firmware.
Attendee app source confirming the documented badge APIs and Lua app sandbox that the stock firmware exposes.