Monopoly, But COMMUNIST

**Monopoly, But COMMUNIST** is an episode of House Rules. It reached one million YouTube views on 17 July 2023, became the most viewed video on the channel on 21 July, one month after release, and is widely credited for the significant growth of the channel in the summer of 2023.

"*This is Sullivan's fault, at the end of the day.*"
―Adam
In this episode, Adam and Sullivan play Communopoly within Stalinist Russia, with Dom as Stalin.

## Notable moments

* This is a playthrough of a custom version of Monopoly, with all properties and cards replaced with versions themed around Russian Communism under Stalin. There are a number of additional rules and token powers introduced.
* This was Sullivan's idea, Dom then designed the detail and Teri built it (off camera Teri spot - hi Teri!). Adam to Sullivan: "You commissioned Dom to make a communist Monopoly and … a few steps later, we have Dom dressed as Stalin presiding over our game of Monopoly."
* They have to keep clapping, or Dom's going to have them shot. He was, as we know, born to this: "Hopefully you'll see my thinking ... I'm *sure* you'll see my thinking".
* The new rules are delightfully capricious: there are a number of ways to end up in jail - including having too much money and not enough - and to be disappeared. It also may be a good idea to smuggle money to the West - but then, it might not be. Each token represents a different role, with different powers and a different win condition - which isn't revealed until after they are chosen. *Chance* and *Community Chest* cards are renamed as brilliant and terrible *No Chance* and *Communism Test* cards*.*
* The first thing that breaks us completely is when Dom decides the state no longer gives change. Dom: "Don’t talk to me about fair, I was in exile in Siberia for years, don’t talk to me about fair!"
* There's actual redistribution of wealth. Adam is furious. Sullivan is delighted. Dom is gleeful.
* The History Boys are keen to share their knowledge. Sometimes. Meanwhile Adam doesn't seem up on his 19th Century Italian history, for some reason. Gary Balldy was not a travelling football fan who united Italy through biscuits.
* Adam steals property, smuggles money, gets trapped in jail with disastrous consequences and is detained for questioning.
* Adam (in jail): "I don’t like Stalinist Russia". Dom (as Stalin): "What?" Sullivan:" I wouldn’t say that where you are, mate."
* Sullivan is quizzed on doctrine, works for the NKVD, informs on his collaborators and keeps heading back to jail.
* Sullivan: "Adam Blampied is a dirty capitalist pig!"
* We are, variously: the Red Army, the Politburo, the Proletariat, a Kulak, a bourgeois lapdog, a widowed babushka and a collectivised peasant.
* Adam: "This game has been cruel to me, so fuck your theme! I'm choosing the T-rex!"
* Steptoe spot! at 19:41. But we move quickly to the Russian national anthem.
* 45 minutes in, Adam thinks he has identified the real objective of the game. But in fact, it's only in the last 10 minutes that the boys realise, for complex and spoilery reasons, they need to die. Dom's reaction is spectacular. Adam and Sullivan shout "Live!" at one another for a while.
* Sullivan: "What the fuck's this bullshit?" (when he is able to mortgage a property and so stay alive for another turn).
* Adam: "In a sense we all won. But in a more specific sense, Sullivan won."
* In a stark contrast to our normal assessment of House Rules games, we actually want to play this properly, if the comments agree. Or even if they don't - it's Stalin after all.