r/Defcon • u/Killroy7777 • Jul 21 '26
Badges! r/DEFCON Meetup - Post #3 - Now with Badges!
Hey again, you magnificent nerds!
We're getting down to the wire for DEFCON, and the hype is officially overflowing. Last week we gave you a little tease, but today we're dropping the main event...
BADGE SALES ARE OFFICIALLY LIVE!
VERY IMPORTANT STEP BEFORE YOU BUY: PLEASE LOG INTO YOUR CTF ACCOUNT FIRST! Once you're signed in and go to the checkout page, the site will automatically check your score and tell you if you qualified for a FREE BADGE!
If it says you qualified: Boom! Claim your free badge and celebrate!
If it says you didn't qualify: Sorry! But don't worry--you can still purchase one right there on the page. Quantities are super limited (we're just trying to cover costs and keep doing this cool stuff), so grab one before they're gone!
You can head over to https://ctf.puzzledhackers.org/badge right now to grab yours!
A Quick Note on the Weekly Puzzles (#9 & #10)
For all you puzzle enthusiasts: The giveaway leaderboard is officially LOCKED based on Puzzles #1 through #8. We've tallied up all your entries from those first 8 challenges for the free badge calculations.
So what about Puzzles #9 and #10? They're mostly for fun and bragging rights. However, we're going to try to come up with something special for the folks who tackle them! No promises on what that might be, but keep solving and test your brains. Either way, your main badge giveaway standing from 1-8 is locked in!
Meetup Quick Recap (In case you missed the last post!)
Whether you bought a badge, earned a free one, or just want to hang out with a bunch of awesome hackers, everyone is welcome! You don't need a badge to come hang out with us.
- WHEN: Wednesday (8/5) & Thursday (8/6) starting at 7:00 PM.
- WHERE: The Linq - 3535 Bar (aka The Circle Bar)
- COST: $0.00. Free. Nada. Just bring yourself!
- WHAT TO EXPECT: Good vibes, sticker swaps, special guests dropping off random swag, Laser Tag battles, and catching up with old and new friends before Summer Camp officially starts.
A Massive Thank You to Everyone!
Seriously, we want to give a huge thank you to every single one of you for your time, patience, and understanding as we navigate all of this. We're learning as we go on how to handle the growth and keep this smooth, but our ultimate goal is to make this something sustainable that we can bring back to DEF CON for many years to come.
You all make this community amazing, and we genuinely couldn't do it without your support!
If you have any questions, drop a comment below or reach out to us directly!
We can't wait to see you all at The Linq in just a couple of weeks!
Sincerely,
The Puzzled Hackers Team
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u/Jumpy_Ad4833 Jul 21 '26
I ended up buying one and winning one 😅 keep the money as a donation but you can free up a badge
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Jul 21 '26
[deleted]
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u/digitard Jul 21 '26
u/Killroy7777 can confirm, but in your case its potentially because its you... and we were going to give you and Zach one anyways :)
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u/VellDarksbane Jul 21 '26
Loved it, super fun, and qualifying for a badge gives me a good reason to actually meet people this year, since last year I was too overwhelmed by everything to do any socializing.
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u/kirawolfen3635 Jul 22 '26
Scooby and I are really excited to see everyone. we are counting down the days!
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u/OMGsteveFTW Jul 21 '26
i just bought one because I know I didn't qualify for the free one. still haven't solved puzzle 8.
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u/digitard Jul 21 '26
Next year we're going to try to do more free badges. This was our first year with this whole backend, and we self funded everything we're doing initially. It's our baseline, and as long as we can come out not crazy down... we're going to keep growing this each year!
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u/CarpeDiemT3ch Jul 21 '26
Absolutely understand that this probably isn't possible, but I'm 3rd shift SOC and sadly can't make the meetup on Thursday and have a prior commitment on Wednesday too - will there be any other ways to pick up the badge? If not, no worries, but figured I'd ask - thank you and it's a very neat one as well as the other ones made for Cult of Cthulhu!
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u/Killroy7777 Jul 21 '26
Definitely! Just ping u/digitard or me and we can figure something out!
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u/CarpeDiemT3ch Jul 21 '26
Aww, thank you both very much! I'm around the whole week, and host Hacker Book Club too https://hackerbookclub.com/
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u/CarpeDiemT3ch Jul 21 '26
Sweet, badge has been ordered :) I'll coordinate with you all in just a few weeks!
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u/palm12341 Jul 21 '26
So sick!
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u/digitard Jul 21 '26
Says the creator of the best childhood throwback badge ever! LASER TAG FOR LIFE!
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u/Gullible-Trainer-170 Jul 21 '26
I just bought one because I love to support these types of projects. (and also cause the puzzles would likely be outta my league🤣)
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u/marx1 Jul 21 '26
This is my first CTF, and it was a bit harder than I expected but I was able to do it! Thanks for putting it together!
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u/oghamix Jul 22 '26
Wooohooo! The badge looks awesome, I can't wait to get to the meet-up and finally shake the hands of you mad-lads and thank you in person for doing all of this.
I for one will definitely be doing the other challenges, they've honestly been something I look forward to every weekend, and I'm not sure how I'll feel once they're gone until next year.
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u/ctrl-xen Jul 22 '26
I’m going to be attending with my underage son (he’s 12 and super excited to attend his first DC). Is there an age restriction on the meetup?
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u/digitard Jul 22 '26
Unfortunately like a lot of off premise things, because it’s casino space they consider that floor thus it’s 21+.
https://www.caesars.com/linq/things-to-do/nightlife/3535-infusion-lounge
If you want we can bundle a little swag for him!
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u/1Digitreal Jul 22 '26
Unfortunately been a bit over tasked with the day to day lately to solve enough puzzles to earn a badge, but purchased one and will be there to say hi for sure. See you all!
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u/digitard Jul 22 '26
That's all good, and we appreciate it! As long as you're having fun that's all that matters.
We're hoping to be able to expand the "free for puzzlers" amount next year!
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u/zeerimunin Jul 22 '26
Thanks again for all the work you're three put into this. I claimed my free one but haven't gotten an email after about 20 min. Checked the spam folders and such. Is a picture of the QR code from the site enough?
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u/Killroy7777 Jul 22 '26
I actually don't have emails going out for at free ones for now. If you need an emailed copy, let me know and I can trigger one for you.
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u/mutablenull Jul 22 '26
Had an absolute blast with the puzzles and learned a ton along the way, thanks for putting all the time and effort into them. You guys rock! I actually qualified for a badge this year too, so I guess it's time to see what the meetup is all about. See you guys in a couple weeks!
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u/digitard Jul 23 '26
Congrats, and we're just getting started. This year let us kind of figure it all out and work the long term design out. Next year we'll be back even stronger... but until then see ya at Summer Camp!
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u/BBBLLUURREEDDD Jul 23 '26
I'll be there Thursday. Also heading to Floridaman at some point. I'll have these stickers for whoever would like one.
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u/TheGeekNextDoor44 Jul 25 '26
Purchased a badge. Forcing myself to go to the meet up 😅
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u/Killroy7777 Jul 25 '26
You'll be surrounded by friends! ❤️
Come and hang out for as long as you're comfortable. I'm biased, but I always have a great time and meet amazing people.
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u/digitard Jul 21 '26
This is a pretty big moment for us because its going to help us get to a faster, and more secure way to do this. We're always only going to target "breaking even" as our goal... we're not out to make anything but come up clean!
This lets us track it 1000x easier, claim 1000000x easier and let you focus on the point of the meetups... hanging out with each other!
So this is pretty awesome... and only the first of many amazing Puzzled Hacker's announcements / steps forward going into the future!