Multi Pass! Mulll-tiiiii Pass!!

I recently had occasion to build myself a Multi Pass, and I thought I'd share the slightly goofy results here.

Photo of me with my Multi Pass.
(I didn't get any photos of the event myself, so until I sort out reposting permissions and things I shall simply link to photos taken and posted by my friends.)

I attended the ShmooCon hacker conference this past weekend. Tickets to the conference came in the form of unique barcodes which were emailed to each attendee. You would print out your barcode, they would scan it at the door, and if it all checked out you were given a badge granting you access to the convention. One of the con's contests encouraged people to find creative ways to display their barcodes, the only rule being the barcodes had to be actually scannable.

Naturally, being a huge fan of The Fifth Element, I thought a fun and geeky way to do this would be by printing my barcode onto a Multi Pass. What better way to gain access somewhere than by flashing your Multi Pass, I ask you?

First, I gathered as many images as possible of the pass, from the movie itself as well as from some prop collector sites, fan reproductions, and such things. I then fired up my graphics software and made myself the pass image, inserting my barcode, a bunch of nerdy in-jokes, and a slightly altered photo of myself.

My multi pass image, full-sized.

I then threw a bunch of random plastic pieces from my junk drawers together to get the approximate shape down, sanded and filed things as necessary, assembled everything with hot glue, and applied my printed label. I originally thought of painting everything grey like the original, but ended up leaving the bits as they were due to time constraints and worries about paint rubbing off onto things. I ended up really liking the look of the black sections, screen-accuracy be damned.

A close-up image of the completed pass.

The grey backing is carved out of an old plastic VHS tape case, and the upper-left corner is trimmed from a dollar-bin DVD case. The black piece on the lower left is cut from a spindle unit from a broken DVD player, the yellow "button" is a cap from a tiny jar which held screws. The translucent tube on the left is from a ballpoint pen, which lit up via a hidden button on the back and a bright red LED; it didn't do that in the movie, but I had the LED lying around and thought it looked neat.

Here's a photo taken by a contest organizer, in which the illumination shows up really well.

I also added an old cellphone clip to the back, to enable wearing the pass like a badge.

faceless_wonder wearing my pass.

I imagined it might raise a few chuckles from scattered fans of a certain film, but my Multi Pass got a far better reaction than I had expected from nearly everyone who saw it. I ended up as a runner-up in the contest, winning the "Crowd Favorite" category and earning a t-shirt. People loved it, and by popular demand I brandished it while quoting "Multi Pass! Mulll-tiii Pass!!" at far more people than I can remember.

My Multi Pass is now mounted on my wall, perhaps awaiting a future occasion, when it might once again grant me access to somewhere exciting.

Thanks for reading!