# Hack the North

Published articles for Hack the North.

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## Making 1,750 programmable PCB badges for Canada's biggest hackathon

DevFeed: [Making 1,750 programmable PCB badges for Canada's biggest hackathon](<https://devfeed.tech/articles/making-1-750-programmable-pcb-badges-for-canada-s-biggest-hackathon-100743.md>)

Original publisher: [Read original article](<https://blog.adafruit.com/2026/10/26/making-1750-programmable-pcb-badges-for-canadas-biggest-hackathon/>)

Author: Anne Barela

Published: 2026-10-26T20:38:24Z

Content type: news

Language: en

Sources: [Adafruit Industries](<https://devfeed.tech/sources/adafruit-industries-makers-hackers-artists-designers-and-engineers.md>)

Topics: [Hackathon](<https://devfeed.tech/topics/hackathon.md>), [Arduino](<https://devfeed.tech/topics/arduino.md>)

Tags: [badge](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/badge.md>), [badge-life](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/badge-life.md>), [board](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/board.md>), [browser](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/browser.md>), [buttons](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/buttons.md>), [canada](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/canada.md>), [cells](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/cells.md>), [circuit](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/circuit.md>), [code](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/code.md>), [color](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/color.md>), [device](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/device.md>), [editor](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/editor.md>), [esp32](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/esp32.md>), [espressif](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/espressif.md>), [hack](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/hack.md>), [hack-the-north](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/hack-the-north.md>), [hackathon](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/hackathon.md>), [led](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/led.md>), [lua](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/lua.md>), [making](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/making.md>), [nfc](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/nfc.md>), [pcb](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/pcb.md>), [webassembly](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/webassembly.md>)

### AI overview

Hack the North replaced paper name tags with 1,750 programmable ESP32 badges, each combining a color screen, buttons, NFC reader, WS2812B LED, and two AA cells. Attendees could write apps using a Lua runtime, browser-based editor, or on-device shell. Four PCB design spins uncovered problems including a misplaced capacitor, an NFC tag instead of a reader, and assembly errors that killed boards; the reverse-polarity FET added for production was not tested on a full board. The final order also included 750 blank boards and cost about $20,300, or $11.60 per populated badge, versus a $5 pitch. Attendees built projects such as a mesh-networked Among Us, a people Pokédex, and Tux Racer controllers. Hardware, firmware, and a WebAssembly emulator were released as open source.

### Source excerpt

Nick Ficara, writing at va3ndf.com, documented how his team replaced the cardstock name tag at Hack the North with a programmable circuit board. Each badge carries an ESP32, a color screen, buttons, an NFC reader, a WS2812B LED and two AA cells. A Lua runtime, a browser-based code editor and an on-device shell let attendees [...]