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J's friends who'd visited us a few weeks back while driving their fancy decorated Cadillac to Seattle were back today, driving the car back home to California. They're both high-tech people, and they introduced us to a very modern version of geocaching, played by several million people worldwide: Ingress. All players are on one of two teams: the Enlightened (green) or the Resistance (blue). The object is to visit real-world places that are designated as portals, claim them away from the other team, and link three portals together to claim the territory in between and earn points for the team based on the population of the enclosed area. We learned about a great feat in which quite a few players worked together to claim all of Europe, with portals in Kuwait, the Canary Islands, and Svalbard in the far north -- this lasted for 20 hours before someone broke the claim on Svalbard.
As soon as the weather cooled off this evening, then, the four of us set off around the neighborhood to claim the nearest portals, which were all in the hands of the other team. We started with the Buddhist temple (formerly the Unitarian church) and the neighborhood tavern, where we ran into one of J's coworkers and told him about the game. Then we headed down to Tugman Park, which had three portals, at the gazebo, the bear slide, and the monument to William Tugman at the far end. Three bats were swooping about over the big lawn. On the way, we picked up a link at the little church that used to be the orthodox Jewish temple and before that, Camp Fire. We then came back on Hilyard and got the portals at the Unity church and the Episcopal church, and then they realized that they needed to visit the church at the park again, so we headed there. My friend B. lives on the same block and likes geocaching, so when we saw she was up we stopped there and told her about the game. Then we got to the church and completed two triangles, claiming the land for the Resistance.
I don't have a smartphone with cell service, but when I do, I'll be tempted to play!
As soon as the weather cooled off this evening, then, the four of us set off around the neighborhood to claim the nearest portals, which were all in the hands of the other team. We started with the Buddhist temple (formerly the Unitarian church) and the neighborhood tavern, where we ran into one of J's coworkers and told him about the game. Then we headed down to Tugman Park, which had three portals, at the gazebo, the bear slide, and the monument to William Tugman at the far end. Three bats were swooping about over the big lawn. On the way, we picked up a link at the little church that used to be the orthodox Jewish temple and before that, Camp Fire. We then came back on Hilyard and got the portals at the Unity church and the Episcopal church, and then they realized that they needed to visit the church at the park again, so we headed there. My friend B. lives on the same block and likes geocaching, so when we saw she was up we stopped there and told her about the game. Then we got to the church and completed two triangles, claiming the land for the Resistance.
I don't have a smartphone with cell service, but when I do, I'll be tempted to play!