You are playing a super-fun Lightning LARP game! The objective is to open Lightning channels, send and receive sats, get prizes, and most importantly of all, make new friends!

You can easily set one up with a free trial of Voltage.

Head to the Voltage website and select 'Try a Free 7 Day Trial.' Input your email, then select 'Nodes,' 'Create Node,' and finally 'Lightning Node.' Keep the default settings 'Standard Node' and 'Mainnet,' then select 'Create.' Choose a name and password for your node, then click or tap 'Launch ThunderHub.'

In ThunderHub, you will add on-chain funds to your node that may be used to open Lightning channels to peers. Channels vary in size with a minimum of 20,000 sats, so it is recommended to deposit at least 100,000 sats to your node's wallet by selecting 'Receive' (with the anchor icon to represent on-chain) and then 'Create Address.'

Send funds to this address, and if you need sats, you are encouraged to buy them from someone at the conference using cash, PayPal, Venmo, Cash App, Zelle, or any other method you'd like.

You can download Bitcoin Core as well as LND or Core Lightning onto your computer or Raspberry Pi or alternately, install a turnkey node package such as Umbrel, RaspiBlitz, myNode, or embassyOS. However, given that you will need to download and verify the entire bitcoin blockchain, this process isn't something we can do in an afternoon.

For this reason, Voltage is a great place to get started quickly. You can also run a light (Neutrino) node on your phone without having to download the entire blockchain. However in using light clients such as Breez or Phoenix, you will not be able to decide who your channel partners are, making these applications less than ideal for the purposes of our game.

Blixt is an excellent choice for a light node that runs on your phone, and you can even open channels to whoever you'd like! But given that your node will be private, you will not be able to route other people's payments, and you will not be able to accept incoming channel connections.

If you're using Voltage, you can use ThunderHub in the 'Dashboard' section to manage your node, or you can download Zeus onto your phone and connect it to your node.

You can do this in the Voltage web interface in 'Settings.'

Alternately, you can choose an alias and color that will be used exclusively for our Friendship Graph and will not be visible to the rest of the Lightning Network. To do so, choose 'Customize' on the 'Join the Graph' page. This will require that you sign a message with your node's private key to prove that you're you. Signing can be done in ThunderHub or Zeus.

Copy and paste your Lightning node's public key (node ID) into the 'Join the Graph' page. You may then view the graph here.

Using ThunderHub, select the 'Channels' tab then the small gear in the upper right hand corner of the page. Choose 'Open' and then 'Open' again in the 'Manual' section. Select 'Yes' for 'Is New Peer,' then paste the public key and socket (Tor or IP address and port number) of the node you'd like to open to in the 'New Node' field. Input your desired channel size and fee rate, then select 'Open Channel.'

Sending and receiving payments require one-time invoices which expire, making Lightning a bit different than bitcoin on-chain.

To create an invoice in ThunderHub, select 'Receive' (next to the Lightning bolt icon), input the amount you'd like to receive, and then click or tap 'Create Invoice.' You'll be presented with a QR code and an invoice that you can share with the person who's paying you.

Ask around! This is a peer-to-peer learning environment. We're all here to make friends, teach what we know, and learn what we don't. Plus, giving and receiving help is a task on your Lightning LARP card! But if you really get stuck, there are volunteers from PlebLab who will be at your service.

Also known as a liquidity swap, you will be creating a pentagon-shaped ring with one member from each Bitcoin++ cohort. For example, Alice opens a channel to Bob, Bob opens to Caroline, Caroline opens to Dave, Dave opens to Eve, and Eve opens to Bob. You'll then all have both inbound and outbound liquidity, plus four new friends!

You may tell yourself, "this is not my beautiful house." And you may tell yourself, "this is not my beautiful wife."

One of your tasks is to buy sats with USD or sell sats for USD from someone at the conference. You can use cash, PayPal, Zelle, Venmo, Cash App, or any other method you'd prefer.

In facilitating peer-to-peer exchanges, we are legally circumventing the harmful KYC laws imposed upon us, which encroach upon our freedom to transact freely and privately.

Each completed card (Bitcoin Bingo and Lightning LARP) earns you a prize from the Bitcoin Bazaar, discounted all the way down to 1 sat! Although we'll accept cards that aren't entirely filled, you are encouraged to complete as many squares as possible.

Additional items may be purchased at full price, as listed below:

Whether you're paying full price or the discounted rate of just 1 sat per item, you'll need to send a payment to bazaar@dplus.plus or pay a Lightning invoice generated from the shop's payment page.

Show your completed bingo card and proof of purchase to a volunteer. Key chains, pant chains, hair clips, stickers, and patches are self-serve. If you'd like a necklace, pair of earrings, neon sign, beanie, or socks, please ask an associate.