It would have been enough for Ian Bogost and his Persuasive Games outfit to simply port their 2006 "news game" Airport Security to the iPhone for a quick cash in. That game wickedly parodied the TSA's ever-shifting carry-on rules, turning the ridiculous regulations into a brilliant hectic mini-game formula.
In it, you play as a security gate checker who has to strip every disallowed item from a growing line of impatient passengers - bottled water, shoes, Arabic-printed T-shirts, snakes (get it?) and hemorrhoid cream - but the rules are constantly changing, sometimes in mid-frisk, and rejecting an item that's allowed smacks you with a civil liberties penalty as harsh as allowing through each forbidden toothbrush and pudding cup.
With its clickable interface correlating smoothly to the iPhone's touchscreen, an easy port would have been enough, but instead Persuasive has very smartly turned it into one of the most socially- and feature-rich games the iPhone's yet seen.
Billing itself now as "the first mobile game for business travelers," Jetset (as it's now known) uses the iPhone's location-awareness to link fliers to whichever airport they're currently in to unlock special local souvenirs (your guess as to which have to be in to unlock the 'poutine' and 'Greek coffee-cup'), which can then be sent to friends via its interconnected Facebook app.
It's a gimmick to be sure, but one that brings the out-and-about mobile game much closer to home-base, and one ripe for impromptu competitions between the weariest travelers, as the game keeps track of local, global and per-airport high scores. It was always smart social parody from the start, but in making it this much smarter, Jetset has quickly earned its wings in the top tier of App Store output.
Link to iTunes game page