Badges, Ranks and Invites

How a badge is issued

The Bureau is invite-only. Nobody signs up; somebody vouches for you. Every inspector holds a badge with a permanent four-digit badge number, printed on every report they file, and a PIN that stands in for a password.

There are two ways an inspector can bring you in:

• A summons. The inspector generates a QR code from their desk. You scan it (or type the code under it), pick your inspector name, set a PIN, and the badge is yours. A summons is single-use and expires after 7 days, so a screenshot passed around later is worthless.
• An ambassador code. Every inspector also has a standing code (something like BB-XXXX-XXXX) they can text you. It works the same way at the door, but it never burns; it just costs the inspector one invite each time it is used.

Either way, the badge records who vouched for you. That inspector gets credit for the recruit, and you show up on their record. Before the badge is issued you take the inspector's pledge: you ate the burger, you paid for it, the photo is yours. Fabricating a visit is the one unforgivable offense, and the Commissioner can revoke a badge for it. Revoked reports stay on the record; the inspector does not.

Some badges are issued in advance with an activation code, for people the Commissioner has already cleared. Activation asks for the same things: a name and a PIN.

The ranks

Rank is earned two ways at once: inspections filed and inspectors recruited. Promotion needs both bars cleared. Eating a hundred burgers alone does not make a Chief, and neither does recruiting the whole neighborhood. Your rank prints next to your name in the header, on your personnel file, and on the Task Force roster. It is worked out from your record every time a page loads, so the only way down is deleting your own reports.

1. 1. Trainee Inspector

   TRAINEE

   Badge issued. Now go eat something.

   To reach it

   Claim a badge. Every inspector starts here.

   What you get

   The Trainee Inspector title on your badge, your header chip and the roster. One invite to hand out, and the full scorecard: file inspections, add spots, vote on reports.

2. 2. Inspector

   INSPECTOR

   Three reports filed. Officially useful.

   To reach it

   3 inspections filed (3 more inspections past Trainee Inspector)

   What you get

   The Inspector title on your badge, your header chip and the roster. By the inspections it takes to get here you hold 2 invites in total.

3. 3. Senior Inspector

   SENIOR

   Ten inspections and a recruit. You know a good bun.

   To reach it

   10 inspections filed and 1 inspector recruited (7 more inspections and 1 more recruit past Inspector)

   What you get

   The Senior Inspector title on your badge, your header chip and the roster. +2 invites the day you make Senior Inspector. By the inspections it takes to get here you hold 7 invites in total.

4. 4. Field Supervisor

   SUPERVISOR

   Running your own patch of the map.

   To reach it

   25 inspections filed and 3 inspectors recruited (15 more inspections and 2 more recruits past Senior Inspector)

   What you get

   The Field Supervisor title on your badge, your header chip and the roster. Your votes on reports count 1.5 times at the void table, from here up. By the inspections it takes to get here you hold 15 invites in total.

5. 5. Deputy Chief Inspector

   DEPUTY CHIEF

   Fifty burgers deep. The arteries of a professional.

   To reach it

   50 inspections filed and 6 inspectors recruited (25 more inspections and 3 more recruits past Field Supervisor)

   What you get

   The Deputy Chief Inspector title on your badge, your header chip and the roster. By the inspections it takes to get here you hold 15 invites in total.

6. 6. Chief Inspector

   CHIEF

   A hundred inspections. Nobody outranks you but the Commissioner.

   To reach it

   100 inspections filed and 12 inspectors recruited (50 more inspections and 6 more recruits past Deputy Chief Inspector)

   What you get

   The Chief Inspector title on your badge, your header chip and the roster. By the inspections it takes to get here you hold 15 invites in total. Nobody outranks you but the Commissioner.

7. Commissioner

   COMMISSIONER

   Runs the Bureau. Answers to no one.

   Not earned, appointed. The Commissioner issues advance badges, revokes badges, voids or force-keeps reports, pins ranks, and can grant extra invites by hand.

The four founding inspectors hold their ranks the same way as everyone else, but recruit without limit.

How invites are earned

Invites are earned mostly by filing inspections: you start with one, and eating burgers earns more on the schedule below. Rank adds to that: +2 the day you make Senior Inspector. Recruiting does not earn invites; it earns rank. Every recruit who claims a badge on your summons or code spends one of yours.

The schedule and the rank grants together top out at 15 invites. Past that, the Commissioner can grant extras by hand to inspectors who bring in good people; an adjustment like that shows on your personnel file. The Commissioner can also take invites back.

Your desk on the HQ page shows how many invites you have left and how many inspections unlock the next batch. Your summons and ambassador code live on your personnel file.

What counts

• An inspection is one filed report on one burger at one spot, with a photo you took. A voided report still counts as filed; a report you delete does not.
• A recruit is a person who claimed a badge on your summons or your ambassador code. If their badge is later revoked, the recruit still counts.
• A vote on a colleague's report counts once, or 1.5 times from a Field Supervisor or above. The bar to void is at least 3 votes or a quarter of the roster, and the objectors must outweigh the defenders. See How the Bureau Grades.
• There is nothing to claim and no ceremony; file the report and the promotion is already on your badge.

For how the grades themselves are worked out, see How the Bureau Grades Burgers.