Microbadge redirected from microbadges 
Microbadges are another way (in addition to avatars and GeekBadges) that users can customize their Graphical User Representation on BoardGameGeek.
Microbadges are displayed in each user's profile. Also, a user may have up to five of that user's microbadges displayed under the user's avatar in Forums and GeekLists. In most cases, clicking a microbadge will display a list of users who have that badge.
For a visual list of all microbadges in the system, see Microbadges - all (this includes those that are still pending moderation or have been rejected but not deleted).
Microbadge ownership
Microbadges can be acquired in several ways. The most straightforward way to acquire a microbadge is to purchase one at a cost of 8 GeekGold.
Not all microbadges are available for purchase, however. Some are awarded free to those who participate in certain contests or surveys. Others are awarded by the system to users who contribute content to BoardGameGeek (for example, a user who writes 5 session reports gets a Copper Session Reporter microbadge). There are some special microbadges, such as those used to identify Admins and Geeks of the Week.
Occasionally, Microbadge Coupon Codes are distributed. A user who has been given a coupon code can redeem it for the microbadge of the user's choice, instead of paying GeekGold for it (a user may only redeem a coupon code for a microbadge which can be purchased).
System awarded badges are awarded once a day, by a script which runs at 9:00 CST, according to this forum post: Re: System Awarded Microbadges
Unlike an avatar, a microbadge cannot be changed after purchase. It can be deleted, but the GeekGold used to purchase it is not refunded.
Purchasing microbadges
There are several thousand microbadges available for purchase. They are listed primarily in two different places, with each listing serving a different purpose.
- Complete Listing - Shows a detailed listing, in paged format. For each microbadge, it shows the number of owners and the person who created it. This listing can be filtered by microbadge creator.
- Purchase Microbadges Form - Displays microbadges in an expandable listing by group and subgroup. The microbadges in this listing are grouped by subject matter. For each microbadge that the user does not own, a Buy button is displayed. The user can enter a search term to locate a microbadge by name.
Changing the display of microbadges under your avatar
You can edit your microbadges to arrange which of the 5 slots will display which of your microbadges. It is possible to own more than 5, but at most 5 can be displayed.
Use the Edit Microbadges link on your profile page to assign your microbadges to the 5 display slots.
Requesting microbadges
If you want a microbadge for a certain subject, but it isn't available yet, you can post a request in one these two spots...
For more directed discussions concerning RPG and Video Game microbadges there are two other threads you could also post a request...
Microbadges are designed by BoardGameGeek users and are posted on that thread for peer review before they are submitted for approval.
Reporting microbadge mistakes
If you find any of mistakes (categorization, spelling, grouping or any other type) in any microbadges, please report them at the Microbadge Fixes wiki page so that the necessary corrections can be made.
Designing and submitting microbadges
Please note: this is a simple overview of the submission and design process; you should not submit microbadges without at least skimming the complete microbadge submission information available at the Microbadge Design and Submission wiki page.
You can design microbadges yourself, by following these steps:
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1. Look at the thousands of existing microbadges to see if what you have in mind already has something very similar already available.
2. Use your favorite imaging software to create a 16 by 16 pixel image, preferably in PNG format and in most cases with a transparent background.
3. Upload the image to your personal gallery here on BGG/RPGG/VGG.
4. Submit your microbadge proposal for peer-review, by adding a new post to the Microbadge Submissions, Design, and Feedback (post all new microbadges here before submission) thread (if the badge is RPG related use this thread instead, if the badge is video game related use this thread). When posting your badge proposal, include full badge info (mouseover, etc) and don't forget to use the original keyword when using the [imageid=123456 original] tag.
5. Wait for feedback from other microbadge designers. If the badge is deemed appropriate but needs improvements, go back to the 2nd step.
6. If feedback was positive, post your microbadge submission using the Create Microbadge form.
7. Wait for a geekmail specifying if the badge was approved or rejected. This geekmail is sent when the microbadge administrator approves/rejects the badge. In the meantime, you can check the status of pending microbadge submissions at Pending Microbadge Designs.
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See Microbadge Design and Submission for further information.
Note: Party-political and partisan microbadges are not permitted.
Microbadge designer rewards
Microbadge designers are rewarded with 0.25 GeekGold for each sale of their microbadges.
Microbadge Design Award
The Microbadge Design Award is a microbadge that is - as the name of the award suggests - awarded for excellent microbadge design: 
Unlike the system awarded badges (see below), this award is for excellent graphic design within the 16x16 pixel limit. To qualify, a designer must consistently create high quality microbadges and have at least five that are exceptionally good. 'Exceptionally good' microbadges are sharp and recognizable, but also have to be the result of a bit of a design challenge. A microbadge of a wooden cube is no big effort. Fitting a complex image in 16x16 pixels while keeping it perfectly recognizable is.
Past winners of the award are:
Round
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Awardees
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Date
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Round 1
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mrbeankc, Munin, simonh
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August, 2007
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Round 2
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Debate, TabbySunLion
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March, 2008
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Round 3
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jgrundy
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May, 2008
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Round 4
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garion
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November, 2008
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Round 5
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rmidjord
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August, 2010
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Round 6
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kevintlee
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March, 2011
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Round 7
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Lajos
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August, 2011
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Round 8
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indigopotter, spearjr, wildthayne
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February, 2012
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More information on the award can be found here.
Microbadgus Designum Ex Professo
Similar to the Microbadge Design Award, it is awarded for excellent microbadge design. However, this one is awarded by admin rather than a committee: 
Finding out how many Microbadges you've designed and sold
- In the Menu Bar, choose Misc -> Find Users
- Click on 'Microbadge User Search'
- Enter your UserID in the 'Filter By Creator' box and click 'Go'
Microbadge classification
Last updated: 2010/02/17
Because there are several thousand microbadges, they are classified in 'groups' and 'subgroups' on the 'buy microbadges' page. This is the current group-subgroup tree with a short description of its contents (if necessary):
- Award (System awarded badges for contributions to BGG.)
- BGG (Boardgamegeek-related badges such as File Uploader, Geeklister, and Reviewer.)
- Microbadge References
- Ratings
- Thumbs
- Computers And Technology
- Computers
- Gadgets
- Image Software
- Languages and Tools
- Misc Software
- Operating Systems
- Web Browsers
- Game Related (All kinds of things that are related to board games and boardgaming.)
- Artist
- Awards
- Colours (Player piece color preferences.)
- Components (Dice, dice towers, paper money, wooden cubes, etc.)
- Conventions
- Designers
- Eurogamer ('Eurogamer' microbadges: meeples and houses.)
- Game Categories (Board game genres, such as Eurogames, Ameritrash, Civilization games, Heavy games, Party games, etc.)
- Game Design
- Game Series
- Gamer Types (Collector, AP Prone, Obsessive Component Organizer, etc.)
- Magazines and Books
- Misc (Awards, PnP fan, weird stuff, etc.)
- Publishers
- Regional Regular Meetups
- Thrifters
- Wargamer
- Weird
- Games (All board and card games. Sorted alphabetically in subgroups.)
- Interests (All kinds of interests and hobbies not covered by another group of microbadges.)
- Animals
- Cars etc. (Including other motor vehicles.)
- Collector
- Food etc. (Including drinks, diets and cigarettes.)
- History
- Hobbies
- Misc (All kinds of interests that are not generally understood as 'hobbies'.)
- Trains
- Internet
- Blogs
- IM
- Misc (Non-gaming-related websites.)
- Podcasts
- Web Comics
- Literature and Arts (Literature, arts, pulp fiction novels, etc.)
- Artists
- Authors
- Comedians
- Creations
- Genres (Genres of literature, art, movies, etc.)
- Performers
- Photographers
- Misc (Everything that doesn't fit into another (sub-) group.)
- Appearance
- Awareness (Ribbons etc.)
- Charities
- Colleges (University (and other school) logos.)
- Dates
- Family (Children, etc.)
- Festive Days
- Language ('I speak ...')
- Zodiac
- Music
- Artists (Bands and solo artists.)
- Classical
- Genres
- Instruments
- Jazz
- Places (Including travel etc.)
- Pop Culture
- Actors and Actresses
- Cartoons
- Comics (Exception: Web Comics are under 'Internet'.)
- Movies
- TV
- Role-Playing
- 3:16 Carnage Amongst the Stars
- 7th Sea
- A Dirty World
- A Penny for My Thoughts
- Aces & Eights
- Aftermath!
- Agon
- Alternity
- Amber Diceless
- Ars Magica
- Blue Planet
- Bounty Head Bebop
- Breaking the Ice
- Buffy the Vampire Slayer
- Bunnies & Burrows
- Burning Empires
- Call of Cthulhu
- Champions
- Contenders
- Cyberpunk 2020
- Cºntinuum
- Dark Heresy
- Das Schwarze Auge
- Deadlands
- Delta Green
- Diaspora
- Dirty Secrets
- Doctor Who
- Dogs in the Vineyard
- Don't Rest Your Head
- DragonQuest
- Dresden Files
- Dungeons & Dragons
- Earthdawn
- Eclipse Phase
- Equipment
- Everway
- Exalted
- Fallout
- Fate
- Fear Itself
- Feng Shui
- Fighting Fantasy
- Fudge
- Gamma World
- Grimtooth's Traps
- GURPS
- Harnmaster
- HERO System
- Hollow Earth Expedition
- Immortal
- In a Wicked Age
- In Nomine
- Indie
- Inspectres
- Ironclaw
- James Bond
- King Arthur Pendragon
- Kult
- Lacuna RPG
- Legend of the Five Rings
- Lone Wolf
- Marvel Super Heroes
- Megatraveller
- Middle-Earth Role Playing
- Monastyr
- Mouse Guard
- Mutant City Blues
- Mutants & Masterminds
- Neuroshima
- Obsidian Portal
- Old World of Darkness
- Paranoia
- Pathfinder
- Pendragon
- Phoenix Command
- Polaris
- Primetime Adventures
- Prince Valiant: The Storytelling Game
- Rolemaster
- RuneQuest
- Savage Worlds
- Serenity
- Shab-Al-Hiri Roach
- Shadow of Yesterday
- Shadowrun
- Skyrealms of Jorune
- Sorcerer
- Space 1889
- Spirit of the Century
- Spycraft
- Star Frontiers
- Star Trek
- Star Wars
- Starblazer Adventures
- The Burning Wheel
- The Extraordinary Adventures of Baron Munchausen
- The Morrow Project
- The Veggie Patch
- Timemaster
- Toon
- Top Secret
- TORG
- Trail of Cthulhu
- Traveller
- Tribe 8
- Trollbabe
- True Dungeon
- Tunnels & Trolls
- Twilight 2000
- Villains & Vigilantes
- Warhammer 40k
- Warhammer Fantasy
- With Great Power
- World of Darkness
- Zombie Cinema
- Freemarket RPG
- Ratten!
- RIFTS
- Role-Playing (General)
- Character Types
- Equipment
- Equipment - Modern
- Live Action Role-Playing
- Magazines
- Mechanics
- Other Sites
- Podcasts
- Publishers
- Races
- RPG Artists
- Settings
- Stances
- Systems
- Science (In the broadest possible sense of the word, including history, philosophy, mathematics, politics, etc. Basically all kinds of purely intellectual / (semi-) scientific interests.)
- People of Science
- Space Exploration
- Sports - Commercial and Spectator
- AAL (Australia)
- AFL (Australia)
- Allsvenskan (Sweden)
- CFL (Canada)
- DFL (Germany)
- ECH (England)
- Eerste divisie (Netherlands)
- EHC (Switzerland)
- EK (Poland)
- EL1 (England)
- EPL (England)
- Eredivisie (Netherlands)
- ERL (England)
- F1 (Worldwide)
- FIBA (Worldwide)
- FIFA - World Cup (Global)
- Hockey Canada (Canada)
- IRL (North America - Japan - Australia)
- JSL1 (Japan)
- KLeague (Korea)
- Le Championnat (France)
- Liga I (Romania)
- Little League (Worldwide)
- MLB (United States)
- MLS (North America)
- NASCAR (United States)
- NBA (United States)
- NCAA (United States)
- NFL (United States)
- NHL (North America)
- NHRA (North America)
- NPB (Japan)
- NRL (Australia)
- PDE (Spain)
- PSL (Portugal)
- RPL (Russia)
- Rugby Union (International)
- SDE (Spain)
- Serie A (Brazil)
- Serie A (Italy)
- SFA (Scotland)
- SFL (Scotland)
- SLG (Greece)
- SPL (Scotland)
- Super 14 (International)
- Test Cricket (International)
- UFC (United States)
- USA Hockey (United States)
- WNBA (United States)
- Test (for testing purposes)
- Weird (Find out for yourself.)
- Chit Chat
- Equations
- Misc
- Punctuation
- Tavern
- Zero Owners (badges with zero owners)
System awarded microbadges
Some microbadges are auto-awarded for a certain number of contributions to the site. Note that the badge probably won't show up immediately; don't panic, it will within a day. Here's a summary of those microbadges and their requirements:
- Game Reviews
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 Copper - 5 Reviews
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 Silver - 50 Reviews
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 Gold - 100 Reviews
- Session Reports
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 Copper - 5 Sessions
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 Silver - 50 Sessions
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 Gold - 100 Sessions
- GeekLists (with at least 5 thumbs up per list)
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 Copper - 5 GeekLists
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 Silver - 25 GeekLists
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 Gold - 50 GeekLists
- Images (with at least 3 thumbs up per image)
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 Copper - 10 Images
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 Silver - 30 Images
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 Gold - 100 Images
- File Uploader (with at least 2 thumbs up per file)
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 Copper - 5 files
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 Silver - 25 files
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 Gold - 50 files
- Microbadge Designer (with at least 4 sales per badge)
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 Copper - 5 microbadges
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 Silver - 10 microbadges
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 Gold - 50 microbadges
- Boardgame Uploader (combined Boardgame, Boardgameexpansion, Boardgamefamily, plus fractional Versions)
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 - Copper - 25 Entries
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 - Silver - 75 Entries
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 - Gold - 150 Entries
- RPG Uploader (combined RPGs, RPG Items, Periodicals, Issues, Series, Settings plus fractional Versions of RPG Items/Issues (x 1/4)
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 Copper - 10 Entries
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 Silver - 25 Entries
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 Gold - 50 Entries
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 Platinum - 100 Entries
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 Herculean - 200 Entries
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 Ultimate - 500 Entries (and an entry into the RPG Geek Hall of Fame)
- Videogame Uploader (combined Franchises, Series, Videogames plus fractional Versions)
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 Copper - 10 Entries
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 Silver - 100 Entries
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 Gold - 250 Entries
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 Platinum - 500 Entries
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 Herculean - 750 Entries
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 Ultimate - 1000 Entries
- Article Uploader (All articles, currently rpggeek.com only)
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 Copper - 100 Entries
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 Silver - 250 Entries
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 Gold - 500 Entries
- BGG Regular/Veteran
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 - BGG Regular - 1000 posts (Note: spamming is a violation of the Terms of Service)
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 - 5 Year Geek Veteran - 5 years membership and login
These have been uploaded into the system, but as yet it has not been determined how they will be awarded:
There are a few other special badges that look like the system-awarded badges, but are currently manually assigned:
- Boardgame Collector (see this thread to get these microbadges)
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 - Copper - 100 boardgames + expansions in collection
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 - Silver - 250 boardgames + expansions in collection
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 - Golden - 500 boardgames + expansions in collection
- RPG Collector (see this thread to get these microbadges)
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 - Copper - 100 RPG items in collection
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 - Silver - 250 RPG items in collection
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 - Golden - 500 RPG items in collection
- Videogame Collector (see this thread to get these microbadges)
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 - Copper - 100 videogames in collection
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 - Silver - 250 videogames in collection
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 - Golden - 500 videogames in collection
And we have a full selection of microbadges for posting in our site forums (note, these do not include Geeklist or Image comments):
- Poster Level Badges (for each domain: BGG, RPGG, VGG)
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   - Level 01 BGG/RPGG/VGG Poster (100-249 posts)
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   - Level 02 BGG/RPGG/VGG Poster (250-499 posts)
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   - Level 03 BGG/RPGG/VGG Poster (500-749 posts)
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   - Level 04 BGG/RPGG/VGG Poster (750-999 posts)
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   - Level 05 BGG/RPGG/VGG Poster (1000-1499 posts)
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   - Level 06 BGG/RPGG/VGG Poster (1500-1999 posts)
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   - Level 07 BGG/RPGG/VGG Poster (2000-2499 posts)
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   - Level 08 BGG/RPGG/VGG Poster (2500-2999 posts)
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   - Level 09 BGG/RPGG/VGG Poster (3000-3499 posts)
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   - Level 10 BGG/RPGG/VGG Poster (3500-3999 posts)
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   - Level 11 BGG/RPGG/VGG Poster (4000-4499 posts)
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   - Level 12 BGG/RPGG/VGG Poster (4500-4999 posts)
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   - Level 13 BGG/RPGG/VGG Poster (5000-5499 posts)
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   - Level 14 BGG/RPGG/VGG Poster (5500-5999 posts)
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   - Level 15 BGG/RPGG/VGG Poster (6000-6499 posts)
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   - Level 16 BGG/RPGG/VGG Poster (6500-6999 posts)
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   - Level 17 BGG/RPGG/VGG Poster (7000-7999 posts)
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   - Level 18 BGG/RPGG/VGG Poster (8000-8999 posts)
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   - Level 19 BGG/RPGG/VGG Poster (9000-9999 posts)
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   - Level 20 BGG/RPGG/VGG Poster (10000+ posts)
Some additional special microbadges:
- Golden Meeple
 - Awarded as a microbadge for earning 10,000 combined thumbs (effective as of February 2009 - prior to this it was awarded manually and exclusively to one dozen users for unknown reasons)
- Golden Camel
 - Another mysterious microbadge that has only been awarded to a handful of users.
- Geek Of The Week
 - Awarded to a user spotlighted as "Geek of the Week" (GotW) by the previous GotW.
- RPG Geek Of The Week
   - Awarded to a user who has been spotlighted at www.rpggeek.com for one week. The recipient may choose any one of the three microbadges shown.
- Video Game Geek Of The Week
 - Awarded to a user who has been spotlighted at www.videogamegeek.com for one week.
- Werewolf Of The Week
 - Awarded to a user who has been spotlighted in the Werewolf Forum for one week.
- Love Spreader Of The Week
 - Awarded weekly to a user spotlighted as "Love Spreader of the Week" based on their "outstanding acts of love, gentleness, respect, and otherwise positive traits."
- Geek Admin
 - To signify the Geek Administrators.
- RPGGeek Admin
 - To signify RPGGeek Administrators.
- Chit Chatter of the Day
 - Awarded to a user who has been spotlighted in the Chit Chat Forum for a day.
- I was here for BGG's Tenth Anniversary!
 - Awarded to every user who logged in within 30 days after BGG's tenth anniversary (January 22nd 2010).
- I was trololol'ed in 2010
 - Awarded to every victim of the BGG April Fool's joke on April 1st 2010.
Several other secret society microbadges also exist.
How to make a microbadge image and link in a forum or geeklist comment
Use the format code [microbadge=#] will cause the image of the given microbadge to appear in the post, with a link to its page and hovering description when mousing over the image.
Microbadge randomizer
There is a Microbadge randomizer by Bail Organa available here.
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