COMMUNOPOLY®

RULES FOR THE BOARD GAME “COMMUNOPOLY”

OBJECT. Gameplayers of the world, Unite! The object of COMMUNOPOLY® is the abolition of property in land and application of all rents of land to public purposes.

EQUIPMENT. COMMUNOPOLY® comes prepared for self-abnegation with the following: one (1) board, two (2) dice (the Means of Movement), six (6) identical red tokens in the shape of a hammer and sickle, thirty-two (32) public housing units, twelve (12) ghettos, a selection of Willofthestate and Communitarian Chest cards, a number of Land Division Cards (also but less properly called “deeds”), and play money.

PREPARATION. Each comrade should select one of the identical playing pieces and place it on the beginning space. This “GO” space has two labels: “Revolution” and “Apathy.” The former is used for the first turn, the latter for all subsequent turns.
ALL of the money should be seized immediately by one of the comrades and redistributed to the others evenly. It is acceptable for the initial redistributor to keep a larger portion for him/herself, as long as he/she gives the other players the impression that everything is “fair.”

SOCIAL PLANNER. The initial redistributor becomes the Social Planner for the game, and also will function as Wealth Redistribution Administrator.
The Social Planner collects all taxes, fines, and other fees, and is responsible for taking some comrade’s money and giving it to other comrades who have less. It is advisable for the Social Planner repeat the phrase “From each according to his means, to each according to his needs” while taking this money according to his whims.
The Social Planner never “goes broke.” If the Social Planner runs out of money he/she may seize another comrade’s money.

THE PLAY. The Social Planner should immediately seize all deeds. He/she must then redistribute these deeds fairly, keeping extra cards for himself. The Social Planner should immediately announce a Five Move Plan. He/she must assure the comrades that the plan will make the game run smoother and ensure broader success to a degree not found in games such as “Monopoly.” Giving out money is the first stage of the Plan.
As the Means of Movement (the Dice) are publicly controlled by the Game, they are immediately thrown by the Social Planner. The numbers appearing on the Means of Movement are added together and divided by the number of comrades. The remainder is assigned a to different comrade on each turn, in a sequence set by the Planner. The comrades, in unison, move their hammers and sickles the number of spaces they have been assigned by the Means of Movement. There they perform the task appropriate to the space.
If doubles are thrown three times in a row, this signals the time for a Purge. In a Purge, the Social Planner designates one comrade as “subversive.” This comrade’s token is immediately placed in the “Siberia” space. The Subversive can only be liberated on a future turn by the Social Planner for the greater good.

“GO.” When any comrade’s token passes over the initial space, he immediately gives two hundred dollars, times the number of players, to the Social Planner. The Social Planner, in his role as Wealth Redistribution Administrator, reassigns the funds to the various comrades.

REASSIGNING DEEDS. As part of a Five Move Plan, “deeds” may be redistributed amongst the comrades by the Social Planner. Deeds may also be held by the Social Planner for the good of the comrades.

PAYING RENT. When a comrade’s token lands on a space corresponding to a Land Division Card, he should give the amount of money written on that space to the Social Planner. The Social Planner should give half of the money to the person assigned to that space, and distribute the rest amongst him/herself and the comrades. If the deed is held by the Social planner for the good of the Comrades, the money is used for erecting Welfare Housing or Ghettos, as described below.

If it happens that all of the spaces of a given color are assigned to one comrade, the Social Planner must immediately rectify the horribly unequitable situation and see to it that colors are evenly divided, even if a new Five Move Plan has not yet begun.

“WILLOFTHESTATE” and “COMMUNITARIAN CHEST.” If a comrade’s token lands on a Willofthestate or Communitarian Chest space, he/she is assigned a card of the indicated type by the Social Planner. Cards include:
· “You are suspected of being a Capitalist. Flee to America for four turns (do not advance your token).”
· “Redistribution error in your favor. Collect $50 from any player.”
· “Go directly to Siberia.”
· “Surrender all assets to the Social Planner for redistribution.”
The comrades should be told that there is in the stack a “Get out of Siberia free” card. In reality no such card exists.

“PROGRESSIVE TAX.” This space requires that the comrade who lands on it surrender half of his money to the Social Planner. The Social Planner shall keep a portion of the assets and redistribute the rest.

SIBERIA. A comrade is sent to Siberia when: (1) A Purge occurs; (2) The comrade draws “Go to Siberia” card; (3) The Social Planner is bored.

While in Siberia, a comrade receives no redistributed money and what assets he has are seized by the Social Planner. No comrade can “escape” from Siberia; he/she can only be liberated by the Social Planner.

If a comrade’s token lands in the Siberia space during the normal course of game play, he/she is “Just Building A Snowman” and no penalties are incurred.

FREE PARKING. A comrade landing here receives no free money, property, or other assets, but neither can his assigned assets be seized by the Social Planner. The space is also marked “American Embassy.”

WELFARE HOUSING. At any time, the Social Planner may decide to seize a portion of a comrade’s money and in return erect a Welfare Housing Unit on one of that comrade’s assigned spaces. Spaces with Welfare Housing on them have higher rents than other spaces. Moneys used as rent for publicly held spaces may also be used to erect Welfare Housing.

GHETTOS. When the Social Planner has built four Welfare Housing Units on a space, he/she may seize additional fund and exchange these for a Ghetto. The Ghetto allows for even higher rents to be levied on comrades who land on that space. Despite the fact that the spaces are only large enough to accommodate a single Ghetto piece, Social Planners may use their ingenuity to place additional Ghettos and levy higher rents, so that all may be more greatly inconvenienced (for the common good).

BUILDING SHORTAGE. When all available Welfare Housing Units and Ghettos have been placed on the board, it is possible that some comrades may notice the inherent flaws in the system of the game. The Social Planner may if necessary remove such comrades’ tokens to Siberia until they are ready to play the game with a good attitude.

SELLING PROPERTY. Because all “property” ultimately belongs to the game, as administered by the Social Planner, comrades may not sell or trade any deeds that have been assigned to them. Indeed, comrades may not do anything at all with the deeds that have been assigned to them.

MORTGAGING. See “SELLING PROPERTY” above.

BANKRUPTCY and ENDING THE GAME. If a comrade is unable to surrender the necessary funds to pay for rent, or to satisfy demands made by the Social Planner, he has “gone bankrupt.” If the comrade owes money for rent by landing on a space, all of his/her assets are seized by the Social Planner. One-forth portion is retained by the Planner for the good of all the comrades, one-forth is given to the comrade assigned to the space landed on by the bankrupt comrade, and the remainder is distributed among any other comrades (or kept by the Social Planner if no comrades are in the game). If the comrade owes money for taxes, all of his/her assets are seized by the Planner. Half of the assets are shared among the other players.

The bankrupt comrade, unable to fulfill his obligations to the Game, is condemned to Siberia by the Social Planner. He may, however, “flee to America” (ie, quit the game). When all the comrades have “fled to America,” the Social Planner is the only comrade left, and has no one to exploit. No one wins.