Why I Collect Badges – and Everywhere I Do It

I'll admit it openly: I'm a collector. Not of stamps or coins in the classic sense – but of badges and achievements. Little digital markers you earn, unlock or play your way to. And I love it.

Why do it?

The beautiful part: none of it is about money. I collect purely for the joy of it – “piling up” something that has no market value and yet is priceless. Because along the way it creates memories I still look back on fondly years later.

Collecting means meeting people, getting involved in communities and finding reasons to try things for the first time that you might otherwise never have touched. And yes – the competitive leaderboard side shouldn't be underestimated either. A little competition never hurt. 😄

And one more thing makes digital badges so pleasant for me: they don't create clutter. With physical possessions I'm extremely critical and throw things out generously – too much stuff weighs on my mind and eventually fills the whole house. Digital is completely different: if I lose interest, I simply stop logging in or delete the account. No dust, no shelf, no guilty conscience.

Collecting often means meeting people – a moment I captured as a POAP.

POAP – proof of moments

POAP stands for “Proof of Attendance Protocol” – a digital proof that you took part in something. The idea: you get a receipt for having met a certain person or attended an event. On my profile, over 4,000 POAPs came together that way.

Sadly the project has since shut down. But I still fondly remember an incredible number of these badges – and the moments behind them. An amazing journey over the last five years. The nice thing: POAP runs on the blockchain, yet you could use it perfectly easily with just an email address. One of my favourite moments – a meeting I love remembering – is here.

My POAP profile: over 4,000 collected moments.

Garmin – nearly 20 years in

I've been in the Garmin world even longer than POAP – close to twenty years. Most of the badges only came later, though. badgehero.io gives a nice overview.

What's interesting: it's less about personal bests and more about being active overall – or simply starting an activity on certain days. That's exactly what keeps me going, even when no records fall.

My Garmin badges on badgehero.io.

Chess – three collections at once

Chess is where it gets really colourful, because here I collect across three different worlds.

1. Chess.com. My awards profile has the wildest badges – for example one for having played against opponents from 244 countries.

2. Rosen Score. Named after IM Eric Rosen, this one is about reaching specific positions on the board – like the legendary Mona Lisa checkmate. I'm currently sitting at a proud 100%. 🏆

3. Chessable. And on Chessable it's about training chess in a focused way – collecting as training motivation, so to speak.

Chess.com: 244 “passports” – one country per opponent.

My Rosen Score on Chess.com.

And of course: BadgeBase

The fact that I eventually built a whole site for collecting – BadgeBase for Twitch badges – is probably no coincidence. 😉 The collecting bug just won't let me go. And honestly: I hope it stays that way.

Do you collect too? Whether it's POAPs, Garmin badges, chess awards or Twitch badges – I'm always happy to meet fellow collectors.