“Now that former Gov. Rod Blagojevich appears to have burned through his last few minutes of television fame, the national spotlight on Illinois political corruption may start to fade,” Steve Schmadeke reports for The Chicago Tribune. “But take heart. You may soon be able to play Pay2Play.”

“Native North Sider Juan ‘J’ Rubio’s iPhone video game, based on an older drug-dealing strategy game called DopeWars, puts players in Springfield, in debt and with impeachment looming,” Schmadeke reports. “The goal is to get as much cash as possible by buying and selling Senate seats and ‘cushy jobs’ before your gubernatorial term expires. Sound familiar?”

Schmadeke reports, “On Monday, Rubio got an e-mail from Apple saying his game required an ‘unexpected additional time for review.’ He’s hoping it’s not stuck in limbo and may put an ‘unrated’ version of the game up on his Web site for Windows and Mac users to play.”

Full article here.

MacDailyNews Note: Rubio’s website reads:

Ever wanted to be an Illinois governor? Well now you can!

Pay2Play is the game of trading and danger. How much money can YOU make selling senate seats?

You have 30 days to pay back the unions, make tons of cash, and get out of town all before getting impeached!

Note: Not on the App Store yet. Waiting for Apple approval. Highscores and talkshow appearances in next update.

More info and screenshots here.

[Thanks to MacDailyNews Reader "ChicagoMusicGuy" for the heads up.]