The MULTI PASS DEF CON 27 Badge Is Perfect for Trips to Fhloston Paradise

DEF CON 27 is just a couple months away, and that means hackers, infosec experts, and regular old geeks around the world are preparing for a pilgrimage to Las Vegas for the event. Of those preparations, one of the most important has become your badge — or badges. While they won’t actually get you into the conference, elaborate electronic badges have become a way of life and a kind of status symbol for makers and hackers. Many people choose to make their own, but you can also purchase some nifty limited-edition badges from the pros. If you’re a fan of The Fifth Element, then this MULTI PASS badge is a great choice.

The MULTI PASS badge launched through Kickstarter, and has reached more than twice its funding goal. The campaign still has nine days to go, but there is only one badge left at the time of this writing, and that will likely be gone by the time you read this. You might, however, be able to get your hands on one at the conference itself. There is a reason the badges have almost completely sold out: they’re really cool. The badge is designed to look as much as possible like the prop MULTI PASS seen in the classic sci-fi movie. The major difference is that the badge has an e-paper display and is interactive through capacitive touch buttons.

The MULTI PASS badge runs on a 16MB ESP32 WROOM module, which has a dual-core 240MHz processor and built-in WiFi and Bluetooth. The display is a 2.9" 296x128 pixel grayscale e-paper screen, which you can use to show your name. There is also an additional ATmega48 to control the various LEDs on the badge. Everything is powered by a 1000mAh LiPo battery that should be good for a full 24 hours of use, and can be recharged through the badge itself. The badge runs MicroPython, and there is even an app repository for you to take advantage of. Of course, there are also two SAO (Shitty Add-On) headers and 12 GPIO pins so you can expand its functionality. A single badge costs $140 — if you can manage to get your hands on the last remaining one.