Ingress : A smartphone game that'll make you walk

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Trollivier
Trollivier Posts: 67 Member
in Motivation and Support
I know some of you use apps to help for motivation and fun.

I've always had a problem when it comes to taking walks. I can't just go out and walk without a purpose. I need to go somewhere, or do something. And because of that, I'm not very active between my gym sessions.

Until I discovered Ingress.

Ingress is an augmented reality game invented by Google, and playable on Android smartphones (iPhone, Windows phones and Kindle to be supported in 2014).

To summarize, you need to discover portals in your city (which are monuments, sculptures, murals, churches, work of arts) and capture them for your faction, link them together and create fields. There are 2 teams : the Resistance and the Enlightened.

It's a mix between capture the flag, treasure hunt and RPG games. It might be more difficult (or boring) to play in rural areas, because there might be less portals. But in Montreal, there are thousands of portals, which makes playing more interesting. This weekend, some friends and I walked for 5 hours, a total of 10 KM just for the fun of hacking portals. And we realized we visited places we never saw before.

There is a very nice sci-fi background story that comes with this game, and it evolves every week on Youtube. Google also create official gathering and events that are played worldwide!

Anyway, if you want to know more and if you are interested, here are some interesting links.

Ingress on Wikipedia : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ingress_(game)
Ingress Beginner's guide : http://youtu.be/HgvHV155gvo
Unofficial Ingress Guide to Level 8 : http://www.ingressbootcamp.com/
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Replies

  • stongjos
    stongjos Posts: 63 Member
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    How do I know if there are portals in my city? I tried looking it up on the web, but couldn't find it. Seems like a Super game!! Way to go!
  • teresamwhite
    teresamwhite Posts: 947 Member
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    This looks like fun! Kind of like geocaching in a way...which my kidlets love. I have to wait for the iPhone version, but I will keep an eye out for it!

    Thanks!
  • DeltaZero
    DeltaZero Posts: 1,197 Member
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    I have it. It's fun in spurts, but then I get tired of it. Definately more fun in larger cities, in the suburbs its all about driving to remote locations..
  • Trollivier
    Trollivier Posts: 67 Member
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    Stongjos : You need to download the app, then you'll have access to www.ingress.com/intel which is pretty much Google Maps adapted to ingress, and you can see all the portals.

    Send me a message stating where you live exactly I can look it up if you want.
  • Trollivier
    Trollivier Posts: 67 Member
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    When the iPhone version will be out, this will get CRAZY.
  • Metairie82
    Metairie82 Posts: 3
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    This sounds really cool! I love my Windows phone and so will probaby have to wait till next year.
  • Francl27
    Francl27 Posts: 26,371 Member
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    That sounds cool. But I mostly walk in my neighborhood, it wouldn't be much fun...
  • ekz13
    ekz13 Posts: 725 Member
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    it's pretty cool when you get into it, I played the beta invite. My only issue is, the "game" functions better in a city environment, there really wasn't too many portals or anything in the rural country areas, so walking to get to the 1 portal that is local was a chore. if you can find a populated location, it would be a fun time (hacking all the portals, gathering keys, setting up grids, etc)
  • lacroyx
    lacroyx Posts: 5,754 Member
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    I am checking it out. It's definitely more fun in a city environment. Imagine how fun this game would be with Google glass.
  • Xenophonica
    Xenophonica Posts: 79 Member
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    A friend of mine who is out to lose a lot of weight introduced this app to me just last week! I am obsessed! Not only does it get me and my son out around town and walking, but my husband got into it, too. It is serious business and we have talked about making it an every-Saturday-morning affair to walk downtown and reclaim portals for our cause!
  • cbmae
    cbmae Posts: 19
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    This sounds awesome! I'm going to check it out, thanks! Hopefully it works well in the area I live.
  • kevinrbarger
    kevinrbarger Posts: 87 Member
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    I know that I'm bumping an old topic, but I just found this game and I'm addicted. I walked around downtown in the cold for 4 hours last night without really realizing it, looking for both portals and places that I could charge my cell phone. It was freaking awesome! My town is pretty overrun with people on the opposing team, so I felt like part of some underground force, doing damage where I could and slinking back into the shadows.
  • Lindseyelizabeth87
    Lindseyelizabeth87 Posts: 151 Member
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    Thanks for bumping :) I'm downloading it now!
  • jochoki
    jochoki Posts: 7
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    been playing this game for a while...it works great in any "historic" district in your respective towns...the game caters to portals around historical and/or cultural sites. If your local area does not have any portals, but there are places that you think are worthwhile, you can actually "submit" the portals into google/ingress and they'll evaluate it and eventually make it a portal, so that it can be more fun in your area. Portals seem to have a higher chance of being accepted if your local area doesn't have much.

    Areas that have a great cluster are in the following areas that I play:
    Milford - Milford Green/Public Library/Town Hall area
    Trumbull - Trumbull Town Hall/Public Library area
    Shelton - Huntington Green area
    Monroe - Monroe Historic District area
    Fairfield - Fairfield Town Hall/Public Library area

    City-wise, New Haven, South Norwalk, and Stamford have quite a cluster of portals that will keep you constantly engaged as well.
  • Zaftique
    Zaftique Posts: 599 Member
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    OMFG I love this game.
    I've upped my walking by whole bunches just trying to keep all my portals at full battery. :D YAY!

    Anyone in the Mpls area, I'm Solveig! Smurfs 4eva!
  • Nige_Gsy
    Nige_Gsy Posts: 163 Member
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    It's a shame that the stats for distance walked appear to be total garbage. Have walked over 20km in the last 2 days playing the game (measured on Mapmyfitness) but Ingress only shows 1km.
  • Zaftique
    Zaftique Posts: 599 Member
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    Just popped for iPhone, so lots of new players afoot! :D
  • HelloAmbie
    HelloAmbie Posts: 46 Member
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    THANKS!
  • sabified
    sabified Posts: 1,051 Member
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    That sounds awesome :) Thanks for sharing!!

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