Meet Joe Gillis, burly employee of the Las Vegas Sewer Maintenance System. Just another day of work in the dirty sewers. Except that it is not just another day. Rats are everywhere! Equipped with his foam gun, Gillis is ready to stop the rat infestation growing in cities around the globe. Yes, he will single-handedly take care of the rat problem in Las Vegas, Barcelona, New York City, and Rio de Janeiro. Not only that, he will go to the sewers and see for himself what the root problem is: the cats are taking over the world, and they are starting with the sewers. It is mayhem, and it starts now! 

So reads the intro to Sewer Wars, a new game available for the iPhone and iPad. The people of this industry are certainly no strangers to the foul conditions of the average sewer system, but worldwide rat infestations and feline manifestos go beyond the typical day-to-day. Yet those are the challenges Joe Gillis faces, and the game allows you to scour the world’s sewer systems with him in the effort to maintain order and control. 

The game, which I downloaded for $.99 and played for about 15 minutes before losing interest, won’t likely make any most-played lists, but anyone in this line of work who’s prone to passing a few idle moments gaming on their phone will at least appreciate the subject matter. And for less than a buck, it’s not a big investment. 

More than anything, it’s just kind of cool to see the underappreciated work of this industry get a little bump from the gaming world. Maybe it will inspire a few young people to help keep our sewers clean. 

Sewer Wars 1.0.1 is available exclusively through the App Store in the Games category.