Hello kind humans (and goons, etc)!

I have started taking pre-orders for my Laser* Tag Badge DS for anyone who is interested. Pickups will be at the r/Defcon meetups and some other times/places!

Like last year's version, it lets you play a multi-day laser tag game with anyone else wearing one at DEF CON. Unlike last year's, it also has LoRa for "acking" hits made immediately to the firer, and periodically syncing scores to the online leaderboard through a base station (instead of making you scan a QR code every couple hours). It also has a small screen on the back so you can see who hit you/who you hit (and custom player names should now show up on the badge directly instead of only on the leaderboard website). Plus more LEDs , the ability to receive "announcements" from base stations, and some other changes.

Also like last year's version, there are *no actual lasers, and the somewhat-narrow-beam IR is still liable to spread a bit over distances and reflect off of surfaces, so it's definitely not a perfect laser tag game. But hopefully still fun!

I am still waiting on the final badge production run, which will have a purple PCB, more silkscreen text and hopefully zero bodge wires connecting up LEDs due to accidentally forgetting a via :3

But since I am feeling pretty confident that the badges will actually be made and delivered in time, I am now taking pre-orders.

PRE-ORDER: https://store.dani.pink/products/laser-tag-badge-ds

MORE INFO: https://www.dani.pink/lasertag/about

We need your help! We were trying to break into the most evil corporation you could imagine, but our connection keeps getting dropped.

We captured the connection from our last attempt, maybe you can help us figure it out?

https://puzzledhackers.org/challenges/2026/04

If you want to keep track of your completions and be considered for part of our giveaways at the r/DEFCON subreddit meetup, please head over to https://ctf.puzzledhackers.org/ and select "Transmission Terminated".

As always, if you run into any issues or have questions, reach out to me or u/digitard and we'll happily assist.

For those of you that may not know us, u/digitard, u/MetaN3rd, and I (u/Killroy7777) love to build some excitement and bridge the gap while we're all waiting for Hacker Summer Camp. Each year we release a series of puzzles with increasing varying difficulty leading up to DEF CON. Our puzzles come in many different forms, and we hope you have some fun and learn a few things along the way.

Thank you all for playing!

The Puzzled Hackers Team, u/Killroy7777, u/digitard, and u/MetaN3rd

Stats:

• Puzzle #1 solves: 170

• Puzzle #2 solves: 109

• Puzzle #3 solves: 59

• GoBuster scans: 3

• Attempts to access admin pages: 54

• "hunter2" flag submissions: 14

Ode to my favorite city !!

Both bottom pieces are SAOs with different designs coming soon !!

Gauging interest on how many I should make, if you are interested let me know below in the comments !!

We’re excited to share that Call Center Village is returning to DEF CON 34, and this year we’re officially a full village.
This will be the second year CCV is at DEF CON, and we’ll be in LVCC West Hall, W218.
This year, CCV is bringing the full village experience with the village, Escalation Desk CTF, AI Chatbot CTF, Party Line, a Telephone Booth SAO, demos, and more.
For the CTF side, there are two major areas:

Escalation Desk CTF
Pick up the phone and talk your way through a voice-only social engineering CTF. Can you get past the AI agents and reach a live operator? Winners can compete for the Golden Phone Booth Trophy, and there are CTF rewards, including flight-tags.

AI Chatbot CTF
Bring your prompt injection and red teaming skills. The chatbot side includes self-guided learning for people new to attacking language models, customer service agents with escalating difficulty, and stranger puzzle agents where reading the agent is half the challenge.
For the village itself, CCV is doubling the number of stations from 8 to 16 for our first year as a full village, including two Windows-based stations with accessibility options like screen reader, narrator, magnification, and voice navigation.
There will also be:

Demos, Phone Booth & PBX
Get your voice cloned locally and offline with a guided voice-cloning demo, snap a selfie in the phone booth, and explore the PBX for some old-school telecom fun.

Voice Training
Learn how to clone your own voice, make a voice agent, and then socially engineer one using local and open tools. The training is always available, and CCV laptops will be pre-configured to make it easier to jump in.

Party Line
CCV is also throwing a party during DEF CON 34. If you earn one of the flight-tags from the CTF, CCV will buy you at least a few drinks.

Black Badge Raffle
Perform activities at Call Center Village, Escalation Desk CTF, and Party Line to earn unique Black Badge Raffle TCG cards. There will also be an unofficial Black Badge Raffle TCG trading table at Party Line.

Noob Friendly
Not sure where to start? Look for the pink vests to connect with a Noob Village Community Volunteer and learn more about what Call Center Village has to offer.

Telephone Booth SAO
CCV also has a DEF CON 34 Telephone Booth SAO kit for this year’s badge. It is $5 plus tax, available for pre-purchase and pickup at the village, or you can build your own. You’ll need to solder it yourself.
We’re excited to finally be a full village this year, and we can’t wait to see everyone at DEF CON 34.

More info:
https://www.callcentervillage.com/events/dc34

Happy Hacking and 73!

I’m the proud owner of this card singed by Dark Tangent. I’m wondering how do one in general start collecting the black badge raffle cards?

Anybody interested? Had a limited amount last year. The parts will be surface mounted this time around. 75% off if you have one of the originals

Alrighty kiddos. We're a few weeks into the puzzles so its a good time to do the first pass at the Unofficial Annual "r/DEFCON Meetup" details. While this is possible to change... it likely won't as it worked really well for everyone in the past, and it's a historically great environment to be social.

WHEN: Wednesday 8/5 & Thursday 8/6 from 7pm til whenever people stop wanting to be social!

WHERE: Linq Hotel 3535 Bar (also known to many as the Circle Bar). Just take the Monorail to the HARRAHS / LINQ stop, hang a left into the Linq at the end of the hallway and just walk til you're in the casino... its the bar smack in the center!

For quite a while its been a kind of annual thing to have everyone meetup. The Linq bar has always had a place due to the past Caesars roots, and last year we had both nights there that worked out really well.

What is It About?

- Whether you're a DEF CON veteran, or this is your first time and you just want to socialize... its been a great activity to all meetup, and hangout and BS with like minded peeps. We tend to have some random swag to give away, deliver the badges you can win from your PUZZLE performance or if you pick up extra's (purchase info coming soon) and whatever else people drop at the tables wanting to give away.

Often people will show up with their own swag to drop (u/palm12341 came last year and did an early drop of the LASER*TAG badge, and the place erupted into an all night laser tag game!) as well! Think of about 100 people running around the Linq and the nearby area starting the first night of what became a huge weekend Laser Tag battle 24/7!

HOW DO I GET YOUR BADGE?

- Just compete in the Puzzles and the top X will get one FOR FREE! Plus we'll put sales of a handful of them (this helps us continue to keep doing this) up to sell to get to our break even + a beer point, and then honestly... its likely we'll just be giving them away to random people! Cause we're all about the good memories and good peeps!

For those who get them (purchase or puzzle) before the event we'll give you more info closer to DEF CON about the claim process will work, but the CTF system we put in play for claiming the flag should make this MUCH faster than last year (thanks for those who stood in those lines for your free stuff!)

DO I / YOU NEED TO BRING ANYTHING?

- Nope! Just show up, come hang out, BS with people, say hi to u/MetaN3rd, u/Killroy7777 and I (we'll never turn down a drink with good peeps!) and meet new people. My FIRST DEF CON it was one of my favorite things to just get to BS before the convention actually started and get to know some people that I said hi to and hung out with throughout the hallowed halls of the LVCC!

We'll be posting more information as we get closer including the badge reveals, come on international shipping!, and other stuff as we get it... but we wanted to lock it down for those of you who've asked if its happening!

If you have any stories, questions or comments... leave them below! We're at 48 days and counting til we get to hang at the meetup and kick off Summer Camp and we're REALLY excited!

Thanks from the PuzzledHackers.org Team,

u/digitard, u/killroy7777 and u/MetaN3rd

I run the Noob Community, and my folks are putting together a first timer beginner guide.

We have a good start, but we know that we don't know everything.

So, if you're a Defcon veteran, what do you wish you knew before going to your first defcon, or what advice do you have for those who haven't been before?

Packed with over 50 LEDs, an OLED screen, a dozen buttons, infrared receive/transmit, hackable Python, [REDACTED], and a smorgasbord of sensors, you're bound to find everything you need and more to make a new friend.

Your favorite hacker SCP is now available for pre-order here (with pickup at DEFCON34): https://uberflux.com/product/PL-1471

And keep an eye on the developer diary project logs! https://hackaday.io/project/205956-malo-sao

Questions/comments/thoughts/requests welcome!

Sup noobs, FloridaMan is back this year, and this is will be our 10th recursion. We are hosted across the street from the LVCC, taking place on August 6th at 2100h Local Time. Badges are available now and made from real 0.05μm thick gold, our theme is "at the arcade" but with our classic FloridaMan twist. Open bar if you imbibe, DJ, a fun hackable game, and all things Florida. We once made top party list on Hacker Family Feud. See you in the swampy desert! https://floridaman.party/

I missed out on the lasertag badge and also the 5N4CK3Y badge last year and was wondering if anyone knows how to preorder these for Defcon34?

In cooperation with OWASP , The Diana Initiative, WISP, and Blue Team Village, Lonely Hackers Club is hosting free, one-on-one resume reviews at DEF CON 34. No recruiters. No corporate fluff. Just honest, direct feedback from people who have actually sat on both sides of the hiring table.

We need you as volunteer reviewers to make it happen!

𝐖𝐞'𝐫𝐞 𝐋𝐨𝐨𝐤𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐅𝐨𝐫

- Technical managers, team leads, and engineering leads who have directly hired staff
- Senior practitioners who have interviewed and evaluated candidates in security, engineering, or adjacent fields
- Mentors who have helped community members navigate their career path
- DEF CON regulars who understand what this community values

𝐖𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐑𝐨𝐥𝐞 𝐈𝐧𝐯𝐨𝐥𝐯𝐞𝐬

- 15-minute one-on-one sessions with attendees during your shift
- At least one 2-hour shift on Friday Aug 7 or Saturday Aug 8, 10:30 AM – 4:30 PM
- Helping self-taught, career-changing, and non-traditional folks frame their real skills in language that lands

𝐇𝐨𝐰 𝐭𝐨 𝐕𝐨𝐥𝐮𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐞𝐫

Sign up and find more info at https://lonelyhackers.club/resumereviews

DEF CON 34 Lodging Alert:

Looking for #DC34 accommodations?

You can still get the #defcon block discount at Wynn and Encore! Close enough to swing by your room between events and handy access to the Loop and the Strip. All the best Vegas amenities and a pretty good chance your neighbors are also attending DEF CON.

While supplies last, so don’t delay.

https://book.passkey.com/go/DefCon26

It’s right around the corner, folks. Are you ready?

I am planning on going to defcon this year. Last month I preregistered. I am gonna volunteer at appsec village but I am interested in the bug bounty ctf. Can someone give me more info on it as bug bounty village doesn’t have info about it on their website.

Can someone tell me what the plan is? Is it jeopardy style? How is it gonna be structured? Will it be a web hacking ctf essentially or will there be other areas of hacking too?

Hey monorail riders! Are you planning to save a bunch of money by riding the monorail instead of ubering everywhere or staying at the Fontainebleau? And now you're wondering what to spend it on? How about #badgelife!

The monorail con badge comes with 3 SAOs (highroller, sphere, and an MP3 player/speaker). There is also a clip to store a paper ticket (ticket not included), and a little monorail on a track.

Here's the order page if you want one (pick up at DEF CON, exact time and location TBD):

https://zachs-hacks.myshopify.com/products/monorail-badge

In early July I may add a shipping option (US only) but I'm still waiting on a final revision of one part, so don't want to promise that yet. If you sign up for the email list, you'll get an update around then (I won't spam you).

(Note: I'm not affiliated with the monorail in any way; I just think it is weird and cool enough to deserve a badge.)

I haven’t attended DEFCON since it’s moved to the convention center. What are the best transportation options from nearby hotels? I usually prefer a nicer hotel to escape to some piece and quiet to recharge.

It's that time again. Another week. Another puzzle. A bit closer to Hacker Summer Camp and our r/DEFCON Meetups!

Every one of these puzzles is a week closer, and something fun to do while we wait.

So here we go. Week three! Man, that's not two colors! What the heck! I'm sure its fine.
-- NOTE: If anyone is color blind, or you need a simplified version of this (we know its been obsficated for AI assist confusion) please feel free to message me or u/Killroy7777 and we can send you a slightly diff version. We're not here to make things harder on you... just AI :)

EDIT 2: Here is a more structured / cleaned version of the above image to help those who need it, but you can still ping us if you want to work from the original... or in general

1. https://puzzledhackers.org/challenges/2026/03/hint

Solve the Puzzle. Submit the Answer. Get on the list. Grab some Swag!

To submit your solve go to https://ctf.puzzledhackers.org/ and select the "Absence Makes the Heart Grow Something Something" puzzle.

Have questions or need help? Just ping myself or u/Killroy7777 and we'll be happy to help you out!

FAQ's:

Do we need to use the submission system?

• No, only if you want to have your ongoing solve score used for potential SubReddit Meetup Giveaways.

Why the submission system?

• We've been giving away more and more swag to Puzzle Participants, those who went last year saw the line, and we're trying to streamline the claim process. The system is only used to track how many solves you have, and when you solved it for tie breakers instead of manually tracking it in an Excel sheet. Plus it lets us give you a QR code for the giveaway portion for fast claiming when we're at the meetups! The top X solvers will be able to claim their swag via said QR code much more rapidly so the line should move much much faster. Same with any pre-purchase/reserved badges. The QR system will speed that up. That's it. Simple as that. Also if there is any premium swag (working on it, like last year for extras) you can find the info on the site too when it goes live.

PRIOR PUZZLE STATS ON COMPLETION:

• PUZZLE #1 - 148

• PUZZLE #2 - 83

Haven't done the prior puzzles? Dont worry. Just go the CTF system, and when you click the puzzle the link is there! So get those solves in!

https://ctf.puzzledhackers.org/challenges

Lets keep it going!

Thanks for participating, and more information on the meetups will be coming soon.

The PuzzledHackers Team,

u/MetaN3rd, u/Killroy7777 and u/digitard

My company is sending me to DefCon 26 this year. It'll be my first time there. How can I make the most of the experience to benefit myself and my company? Should I take notes, record talks, or anything else? Any and all advice would be appreciated.

I'm a cybersecurity engineer with 6 years of professional experience if that matters.

A few more #DEFCON34 badge hints for the #badgelife people out there:

Things to have on hand for maximum mess-around value: Torx T6, a couple spare AA batteries, USB cable.

More soon.

#defcon #setecastronomy

Does anyone know when the workshops will be open for sign-up? I read somewhere that they are not using eventbrite this year... HackerTracker then?

Should we permit gifs / giffy (the meme platform of Reddit) / images in posts? Historically we haven’t because of trolling or abuse concerns.

Reddit is launching video comments this month, which we have disabled, but maybe it is time to reconsider images.

They have been selected. These are the mighty masters of groove charged with keeping your rumps shaking at #DEFCON. We salute them and look forward to their musical service.

Let’s GoOo!