Ingress Mission Day Will Take Place in Hanover for the First Time

24 missions were created specifically for Ingress Mission Day Hannover and are now waiting to be discovered by players. Anyone who completes at least 12 missions will receive the coveted badge for their Agent profile. Anyone with an internet-enabled smartphone and the free Ingress app can participate. This major gaming event is organized by the Ingress fan community in Hanover in cooperation with game developer Niantic Inc. (known for Pokémon GO) and with support from Hannover Marketing & Tourismus GmbH (HMTG).

Hans Christian Nolte, CEO of Hannover Marketing und Tourismus GmbH, is looking forward to October 1: “Visiting our tourist highlights in this digital format is great publicity for our city. Players from all over Germany and neighboring countries can discover the city’s most beautiful sights through this exciting combination of reality and a virtual tour.”

© HMTG

Hannover Mission Day (MD) begins for players with a meeting at 11:00 a.m. at the Herrenhäuser Gärten (>>360°), where the traditional group photo will be taken at 11:45 a.m. The Herrenhausen Gardens also offer three special missions on this day and are otherwise a special place for Ingress players. Afterward, participants continue in small or large groups throughout the city (>>360°): Using their own smartphones, they explore the sights along predetermined routes.

A guided tour is available for less experienced players. After successfully completing a minimum number of special MD missions, check-in begins at 3:00 p.m. at the Brauhaus Ernst-August. There will be plenty of time to socialize and wind down for the day. Many visitors from out of town will also be exploring the city on additional missions the day before and after Mission Day.

The Game: Ingress

Ingress is a GPS-based augmented reality game. Players move through the real world and see additional virtual elements in the app on their smartphones. The goal is to capture as many so-called “portals” as possible and connect them in such a way that “fields” are created between them. Portals can be, for example, sculptures or other distinctive objects.

This type of scavenger hunt is played by two opposing, globally connected teams: the blue team is known among players as the “Smurfs,” while the green team is the “Frogs.” Ingress is already played by more than 5 million people worldwide.

For nearly five years, there has been a storyline that runs alongside the game, one that is constantly evolving and can be followed via social media through multimedia snippets. The story revolves around alien matter (XM) seeping onto Earth through portals. The "Enlightened" (green) want to use the positive influence of this matter to further the development of humanity, while the "Resistance" (blue) sees more of the downsides and fears a negative impact. However, this has little relevance to day-to-day gameplay and should be viewed as an additional layer of entertainment.

The Day: A Mission Day

Mission Days take place outside the actual game and thus have their own “storyline.” On this day, team affiliation plays no role whatsoever, though it’s often expressed, for example, through the color of one’s clothing. Mission Days are held in various cities around the world. This year, they’ve already taken place in Szczecin, Nantes, Lüneburg, and Düsseldorf, among other places. After Hanover, many players will head on to Leipzig, Kiel, Dordrecht (NL), and Bruges (B). Since all of these destinations are of interest to tourists, Mission Days are also appealing to casual players and families.

Experience the city's sights in 360°:
www.visit-hannover.com/360 

Press Contacts:
Ingress Mission Day
Organization Ole Gosslar
Phone: 0172 - 5265166
Email: hannover@missionday.info

Hannover Marketing and Tourism GmbH
Maike Scheunemann
Phone: 0511 - 123490-26
Email: presse@hannover-marketing.de

Herrenhäuser Gärten
Anja Kestennus
Phone: 0511 - 168-45780
Email: anja.kestennus@hannover-stadt.de