Two years ago, we released the Tildagon - a new approach to camp badges, designed to be reused and upgraded at several future EMF events rather than abandoned in a drawer.

Keeping our promise, the 2026 Tildagon has a new front board to match the “space” theme, along with the first official hexpansion to add new capabilities. All of these upgrades are available to order now.

We call it the Spaceagon.

A photograph of the spaceagon. It is a hexagonal electronic badge covered in temporary artwork of space cats. This is a prototype with prototype artwork - the final design will be revealed in the field.

What’s new?

Only a bit! True to our word, you can re-use the main board from your 2024 Tildagon, the battery, the screen, and any exciting hexpansions you’ve collected.

The new top addresses common issues with the previous version - LEDs were more fragile than expected, buttons were awkward and easy to break, and worst of all the screen could fall off and hide in long grass. All of these problems are solved by protecting them inside a sandwich of two boards.

We also took the opportunity to add a tiny joystick and a compass, as well as a ring of touch-sensitive areas around the screen - one over each LED. The touch detection chip manufacturer claims it is resistant to “water, ketchup, oil and blood“, but we do not advise testing this.

And of course, we love to make the badge look beautiful - we’ll be saving the final artwork as a surprise.

Keebdeck Keyboard

We are also releasing our first official hexpansion - a keyboard, so you can tap out messages and be less frustrated when entering wifi passwords. Full thanks to sodoku and davedarko who designed it for us.

A photograph of a small keyboard that plugs into the Tildagon badge.

How do I get it?

Please upgrade your existing badge rather than buying a new one - we have instructions on how to safely strip your existing badge for parts.

We are charging a small amount for the badge upgrade kit to cover manufacturing costs, and the keyboard hexpansion is an optional add on.

Upgrade kits, keyboards, complete badges, and spare parts are available for EMF ticketholders to order now.

You do not need to upgrade your Tildagon if you love it just as it is - we still support it!

Don’t Panic

We are not breaking any existing apps or hexpansions - the hexpansion interface remains unchanged, and the buttons and LEDs are in the same position as before.

There will be a major firmware release before the event, and while we are doing our best to maintain backward compatibility please do test your apps to check they still function as expected.

I want to hack it!

If you would like to design a case to fit the new badge, or some other improbable attachment, you can find more photos and STEP files of the design here, and you can find full information on designing your own hexpansions and apps on the badge developer documentation.

Our Sponsors

We’d like to say a special thanks to our first Palladium-tier sponsor, Nationwide.

We’d also like to thank our three Gold-tier sponsors:

and our Silver-tier sponsors:

In addition to our many sponsors above, the EMF badge is sponsored by Bosch Sensortec, which helps us make the EMF badge as affordable as possible for EMF attendees.