A cult game from Google has swept into Norwich, with dozens of Fine City landmarks starring in a fictional global battleground.

Eastern Daily Press: Ingress player Kyle Secker, centre with fellow Resistance team members at one of hundreds of portals throughout the city. Photo: Steve AdamsIngress player Kyle Secker, centre with fellow Resistance team members at one of hundreds of portals throughout the city. Photo: Steve Adams

Players of Ingress – a free mobile phone app – must take over real sites that have been written into the fictional world as 'portals'.

The twist is that you cannot play the game from the comfort of your own home – geolocation technology forces you to walk to a site to take over its corresponding 'portal' in the game.

'Portals' in the game include several around Norwich Castle, The Forum and the golden ball outside the headquarters of the EDP.

All of the GoGoGorillas were portals in the game while they were on display – with suggested portals submitted by players, and approved by people at Google.

Ingress has hundreds of thousands of dedicated players around the world. Among them is Aviva worker Kyle Secker, 28, who lives in Keswick Hall, near Norwich.

He said he first played Ingress after a friend told him about it in 2012, when it was released in test form.

Mr Secker – who has a tattoo of his team in the game, called the Resistance, on his left forearm – said: 'This has taken over my life. If I'm not working or at home with my partner looking after my little son, I'm playing this.'

He estimated that he had walked more than 500km so far this year to get to different portals to take them over.

The two teams in the game – the Enlightened and the Resistance –must compete to take over the most portals, as part of a sci-fi storyline.

Keith Gerrard, 56, of Blofield, was told about Ingress while at Norwich Beer Festival at St Andrews Hall.

He is on the Resistance team, but said the University of East Anglia was a hotbed for the opposing team, The Enlightened, and it was very competitive.

See www.ingress.com/