We decided to go with an analog badge for DC33. Between tariffs and time availabilty, and the memory of how much work we poured into the Chakra badge last year, we weren’t going to do anything at all. I don’t think a lot of people realize how much goes into a badge.
The badge is an homage to the DC Metro system. My grandfather and great grandfather worked for DC Transit, the predecessor to WMATA, who runs Metro. DISCLAIMER: We at DC540 have no connections to WMATA or the Metro system.
We couldn’t go tech free though, in the spirit of the conference. We slapped RFID stickers with a bit of fun on the back. Once you read the tag, you’ll need to figure out how to decrypt the data you find.
Every badge gets a unique piece of data to decode. Yeah, that’s right. EVERY BADGE GETS A UNIQUE PIECE OF DATA TO DECODE.
You might be able to get some help from the DCNextGen Community. Ask about their M138-lite cipher project…
The strips file we’re using for this cipher is attached.
Other Fun Pursuits on this badge…
Scan other people’s METRO badges and visit the URL. Have them scan yours. Keep track of all of the tags you’ve visited and all those who have visited you. Every time you visit your badge’s URL you’ll see a list of inbound and outbound visits.
BONUS: THIS BADGE IS FREE. We’ll have a few hundred on hand.
COOKIES MUST BE ENABLED IN YOUR PHONE’S BROWSER TO CLAIM TAGS AND PLAY THE GAME. Sorry.
PRIZES?
The real prizes are the friends you meet along the way.
I mean we have stuff we can give the achievers. Let’s see how the game fleshes out. None of this has been tested in the wild. It’ll be an adventure.
