Badge Quest
Do not seek out these events. They will find you. Badge Quest is a game, not an official alert source. Always follow official instructions from your local authorities and the alert itself. Not affiliated with FEMA, the National Weather Service or the FCC.

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DRILL badge: 8-bit pixel art for the Monthly / State Test alert

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CORE BADGE

DRILL BADGE

ALERT
Monthly / State Test
CODES
RMT · RWT · NPT · DMO
RARITY
★☆☆☆☆ COMMON
UPGRADE
VETERAN after 10 alerts

“It was only a test. Your heart rate disagreed.”

⚠ Do not seek out these events. They will find you.

Never travel toward a storm, fire, flood or any emergency to earn a badge. This page is general safety information, not an alert. If you get a real alert, follow the instructions in it and from local officials.

What this alert means

States and local agencies send test alerts to make sure their alerting tools work. The message will clearly say it is a TEST. Codes include the Required Monthly Test (RMT), Required Weekly Test (RWT), National Periodic Test (NPT) and practice/demo messages (DMO).

On most phones, test alerts are off by default. You will only see them if you turn on test alerts in your phone's emergency alert settings.

What to do if you get one

  • No action is needed. It is only a test.
  • Use it as a reminder: check that emergency alerts are turned on, and review your family's emergency plan and kit.

Summarized from the official guidance below. The alert itself and your local authorities always come first.

How the badge is earned

A WEA test for your home area. (The badge comes from the public alert feed, so you can earn it even if test alerts are turned off on your phone.)

It happens automatically. The Badge Quest server reads the public FEMA IPAWS and National Weather Service alert feeds and awards the badge when an alert's official target area covers the home area you set (ZIP code or location). There's nothing to log or claim, and it can't be faked.

How rare is it?

COMMON ★☆☆☆☆: the COMMON tier means 1,000 or more WEA messages a year nationally. ~1,035 WEA messages/yr nationally (2023-25 avg: 1,072 / 1,005 / 1,028).

WEA-flagged alert messages in FEMA's IPAWS archive (IPAWS archive filter: WEATEST). One message can cover a small area, so your personal odds are much lower.
YearDRILL messagesAll WEA messages
20231,0727,349
20241,00510,377
20251,02810,284
Avg / yr1,0359,337

How rarity is calculated

Upgrade: VETERAN

DRILL badgeVETERAN, the upgraded DRILL badge: pixel art

VETERAN

★★☆☆☆ UNCOMMON

After 10 different qualifying alerts for your area, the game shows “Hold on... your DRILL badge is upgrading!” and then “Your DRILL badge was upgraded to a VETERAN!”. Repeats of the same alert don't count twice.

“Ten tests survived. You no longer flinch. You barely blink. You ARE the drill.”

Upgraded badges rank one rarity tier above their base badge (capped at LEGENDARY). That tier is a game rule, not a separate statistic.

Part of these combo badges

Official sources

Rarity data

Collect them all

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Badge Quest is on its way to iPhone and Android. The store links go live here at launch.