The World of Ingress (Day 3)

Ingress is a game. You play it on your mobile phone. There are two sides. You belong on one side that you choose when you start playing. The game uses real life landmarks as an object called a 'portal'. The aim of Ingress is to establish ownership of a portal to your side. You need to be in physical close proximity to a portal (with your mobile phone) to capture it. As an outsider, it was interesting to experience this not-so-spectator-friendly event.

Ron & Brendan belong to the Enlightened, characterised by the colour green & referred colloquially as Frogs. Bel & Annie belong to the Resistance (whom I often mix up with the Rebellion), characterised by the colour blue & referred colloquially as Smurfs. Both sides had meetings at 11am & 12am respectively, so we had a whole morning to kill. We did so, with much walking.

Coffee started off at a small cafe called "Exchange"

Brendan & Annie posing on a stair platform

Breakfast was at a restaurant called "East Terrace Continental". The food was fantastic, with a large selection of breakfast & lunch items on their menu. The ambience was bustling & the place had a very relaxed feel. It felt like being in Surry Hills again.

Tea came with a timer; 3 min, 4 min & 5 min for a flavour that is either light, medium or strong

Very nice counter, stocked with fresh fruits for juices & smoothies; hipster staff; colourful blackboard menus; and chuppa chup lolly pops

We walked around Adelaide, finding a church on almost every block.

St Francis Xavier Cathedral; statues are covered on the fifth Sunday of Lent called Passiontide

Two members of this Catholic church prepares the Altar for Palm Sunday, by attaching palm fronds to the Cathedral columns

The Meetings

Players that were in Adelaide for the event (the event storyline I won't get into, because frankly-- I really don't want to know about it) were encouraged to attend a meeting, in order to get any merchandise they ordered & to meet the teams they were put into. As Switzerland, I attended both meetings. I was surprised & impressed at how both were run.

Outside the doors of the Enlightened meeting, you are greeted by their Frog mascot & some players who check your phone to ensure you are an Enlightened-aligned player

After walking up some stairs, you walk down this hallway & turn left into a large hall adorned with green-shirt players, team names on each wall, and tables full of shirts, stickers, flags, and batter packs

Players sign up for raffle tickets; prizes include an Enlightened pack that contains an Enlightened flag, stickers, lanyard & other merchandise

How many Smurf tears do you think are in this jar?

Brendan looks at the Ingress dice packs, while Ron holds up an event flag

Ready for battle (from left): Andy, Brendan & Ron

The Rebellion Resistance meeting was held at a park. There they handed out merchandise, announced what was happening on the day & encouraged everyone to have a good time. (I left the Enlightened meeting early to get to this one. I wasn't present to listen to any announcements or battle-cries they may have made).

Everyone clustered into their teams, while others caught up with old friends they hadn't seen in a while.

One  of the many Resistance teams  smiling for a photo

Resistance-themed event lanyards

Resistance tote bags, flags, stickers & shirts

They even let a green heathen like Brendan attend & fraternise with the enemy (with Bel)

I was impressed with both meetings. On the surface, they were very different, but displayed a lot of common qualities that are sometimes overshadowed by the fanaticism we choose to focus on when it comes to video games:

• The organisers put a lot of effort into these meetings, from renting out a hall for the Enlightened, to choosing a nice park to meet the Resistance;
• The enthusiasm for this game is boggling. From dyed hair, to painted nails, to flags flying high on backpacks-- players enjoy this game & aren't afraid to show their allegiance;
• This is actually a very social game. Some of these people are meeting their team members for the very first time, & while they might not know much about each other-- they already have a common interest, which is enough sometimes;
• It's just a game. While it might appear that some people take it more serious than others, everyone is entitled to exercise their own degree of competitiveness; and at the end of the day, when the phones are away & the beer tap is flowing-- everyone are friends.

After both meetings, Brendan & I broke away from the group to go window shopping & have lunch.

"Malls Balls" at Rundle St Mall

Burgers for lunch at Fancy Burgers

The Anomaly

The event occurred in two other cities (that I know of. I didn't do any extra research in writing this post up): Tokyo & Christchurch. Adelaide was another city the event was being held at. The Anomaly, as it is called in-game, happens four times throughout the day: 3:30pm, 4:30pm, 5:30pm & 6:30pm at various locations around Adelaide. I did my best to follow some of these teams to the different sites, but my depleted enthusiasm got the better of me.

The first location was across the campus of a local university. Teams were sprawled out across the campus trying to find the most strategic locations for battle.

Most Ingress players can be identified by a smartphone with a cable running to a mobile battery charger; Ingress consumes a lot of a phone's batter power

After the first occurrence at 3:30pm, players gathered together to discuss how they think their side went & to exchange pleasantries with teams from both sides.

Pretty soon though, everyone was on the move to get to the next site before 4:30pm.

A line of frogs

The second site was at Rundle Mall. Rundle Mall is to Adelaide as Pitt St is to Sydney. Rundle Mall is my favourite of the two. It's far longer, has more entertainment lining the walkway, & there are quaint stalls scattering the street.

Losing interest, I was about to head to a Woolworths to buy snacks to bring back to the apartment when Brendan found me & took us to the third site.

Brendan recovers from a sour warhead lolly

With one more site left for the day but lacking the in-game items necessary to play on, Brendan decided to call it quits. We returned to the apartment where he recharged with a nap & I relaxed over YouTube.

Dinner was at Sosta Argentinian Kitchen, where we ordered far too many dishes & the jug of sangria was an unhealthy serving.

From left: Ben, Ron, Brendan & Annie