Ingress: rules of the augmented reality game

The augmented reality game Ingress has game rules, like any other game. In this tip, you'll read a brief summary of Ingress' rules.

The factions

In Ingress you can choose between "Enlightened" and "Resistance". The fractions have no advantages or disadvantages, they differ only in the view of the newly discovered energy form "Exotic Matter", or XM for short. Both factions know nothing about the potential of XM, their opinions are based only on guesswork:

• The "Enlightened" (German: Enlightened) want to use the energy of the XM for themselves. That is why they are committed to further research into the XM. They are shown in green in the game.
• The "Resistance" fears negative consequences for humanity if the XM is researched further and therefore wants to prevent further research. They are shown in blue in the game.

The rules of the game

When you start Ingress for the first time, you will receive a brief introduction to the game. The main rules are summarized here:

Exotic Matter: the resource

Each action in the game costs you a certain number of XM. You will find XM in portals and in locations with a high density of Mind Units, or MU for short, for example in city centers. XM is automatically picked up when you run past an occurrence with your active Ingress app.

The goal: hack portals

Portals are the central element of Ingress. You will often find these portals at places of interest, for example a church or a monument. By hacking a portal, whether from your own faction or not, you get experience points and items.

• Hostile portals can be destroyed by firing XMP bursts and then taken over.
• Portals are taken over by placing at least one resonator on the portal. These resonators lose energy over time and have to be recharged regularly by faction members. If a resonator becomes empty, it will be destroyed.
• If a portal no longer has resonators, it becomes neutral and can easily be taken over by any faction.

Items and control fields

By hacking portals you also get various items

• With Portal Keys you can link one portal to another. However, both portals must belong to your group.
• If your links span a triangle, a "Control Field" is created. This field, shown in the picture as a green area, takes over the MUs located in this area and adds them to your group's account.
• There are also a variety of items that you can use to protect your portals against XMPs, for example.

Read here how to get an invitation code for the beta.