PINBALL BADGE

A pinball-DMD-style name badge that follows your Match Play tournament. Beta, last updated 2026-10-21.

The badge is a pin-on name tag with an 8×32 pixel amber display, styled like a pinball machine's dot-matrix display. During a Match Play Events tournament it shows who you're paired against and on which machine, your strikes, the next round, and a knockout screen when you're out. When two players with badges are paired, the badges notice each other at the machine. No hardware yet? The app's virtual badge shows the same screens on your phone.

Install the beta

iPhone: the install link is coming soon (waiting for Apple's beta review). Ask KC.

Android: join the beta

Android: sign in with your Google account, accept the invitation, then download the app and allow installs from that source once. Experimental: not yet tested on Android phones.

iPhone installs through Apple's TestFlight app. You'll also need an invite code: ask KC, or use the code shown at the event.

Get started (about 5 minutes)

Install: tap the button above (or scan KC's QR code). iPhone: install TestFlight when asked, then install Pinball Badge from it. Android: join with your email, then download the app from the invitation.
Create an account: open the app, tap Sign in or create an account → Create account, and enter your invite code, your email and a password. Enter the code that arrives by email.
Link your Match Play player: the app needs your Match Play profile address or player number.
- Find it: in a browser, open app.matchplay.events and sign in, then open your own profile (your name or picture). The address bar shows something like app.matchplay.events/users/12345; copy it.
- Or open a tournament you're in on Match Play, find your name in its player list and tap it: that's your profile too.
- In the app: Account → Link my player, paste the address (or type just the number), tap Look up, then That's me.
Add your virtual badge: back on the home screen, tap Add a virtual badge. Set the name on the badge (up to about 5 letters fits best).

At the tournament

Be entered in the tournament on Match Play. The badge finds your tournament by itself; opening the app makes it look straight away.
Open your virtual badge, tap Show full screen and hold the phone sideways. Keep the app on screen: it updates only while it's showing. The screen stays on by itself in full screen.
New pairings and results show a few seconds after the organizer enters them. Each animation plays to its end before the next screen.
Vibration (on by default): the phone buzzes at a strike, a new round, a new pairing and when your opponent is detected.
Opponent detected needs your opponent to have a badge or the app too.
Bring a charger: a phone with its screen on all evening uses a lot of battery.

The physical badge

The badge connects over Wi-Fi to get your tournament state, set up from the app (Set up a badge).
Where there's no Wi-Fi (outside, between matches), the phone passes updates to the badge over Bluetooth while the app is open.
The badge has one button; the app's badge page shows its battery, connection and settings.
Badges are hand-built prototypes; there are only a few so far.

Status

Feature	Status (2026-10-21)
Virtual badge on iPhone (pairings, strikes, rounds, knockout)	Working; used at live tournaments
Updates	A few seconds to about 20 s after the organizer enters a change; a newly started tournament can take a few minutes to be found
Vibration at strikes, new rounds, pairings, detection	Working
Opponent detection, badge ↔ phone	Working on the bench; range not yet tuned
Physical badges	Prototypes on development boards; the real badge boards are being built
Phone relay for the badge without Wi-Fi	Built; being tested
Formats	Strike knockouts (head-to-head); other formats show less
Android	Experimental beta (Firebase App Distribution); not yet tested on Android phones

How it works

A small cloud service reads each followed player's tournament from Match Play Events' public API and turns it into a short state document (phase, opponent, machine, strikes, round). It pushes that document to the player's badge over MQTT; the app's virtual badge fetches it. Badge and app run the same display engine, which plays designed animations and a machine-specific clip per game. Match Play's live event feed is being added so it looks again the moment something changes. For opponent detection, during a game each badge or phone broadcasts a short Bluetooth code derived from the game and player with a keyed hash, so it changes every game and carries no name; a badge or phone that hears its current opponent's code nearby plays "opponent detected". Without Wi-Fi, the paired phone relays the state document to its badge over Bluetooth.

Beta terms and privacy

This is beta software from a one-person hobby project, provided as is, without any warranty. It may change or stop working. What's stored and how to delete it: privacy. Feedback and questions: stegbk@gmail.com, or the TestFlight app's Send Beta Feedback.

Pinball Badge is not affiliated with Match Play Events, Stern Pinball or any pinball manufacturer. Machine names and artwork belong to their owners.