Human badge on the left, speaker badge on the right.

Admission is cash only, no information is exchanged, and there is no preferential treatment, you have to wait in a line of thousands. Then you receive a badge designated “human”.

This is my press badge. I did have to register for that, after passing through a door marked “non-human”.

Each year the badge is different, there’s an anticipation about it and the complex puzzle game competition starring the badge.  Neat, eh?! The badge is a game.

They are functioning circuit boards, and came with pieces to solder on, so you could hook up to a monitor and explore around, plus they interacted with one another, which were all pieces of the puzzle… read a better description at Wired.

Interesting the Egyptian theme carried on, it was on last year’s badge.

Polar opposite eh, a disc of metal.  I wore two last year (human and press), so I clank-clanked everywhere I went.

A DefCon17 Uber Badge.

Uber Badge – Free access for life, no waiting in line ever again, the ultimate badge.  A handful are awarded each year to the contest winners.

And ready? The first ever DefCon1 badge.

 Congratulations on 20 years, DefCon! :)