History Main / FallOfTheHouseOfCards

* ''ComicStrip/{{Peanuts}}'' sees Snoopy watching Linus building such a house. As he gears up for a sneeze, Linus calls out, '''"Turn your head! Turn your head!!"''' Snoopy obliges, after which he lets out a big sneeze. The final panel shows the aftermath: Charlie Brown's ''own'' house of cards destroyed.

* In ''Series/MalcolmInTheMiddle'', with Dewey's set of dominoes. They averted the collapse many times, and Hal was really looking forward to the eventual release (trying to keep himself from giving in to the temptation to set them off)... and then he comes home and Dewey has already done it.
** At the end of the episode Hal has fully reconstructed the whole set and decides that he better captures it on video this time, only to slamming the door when leaving setting them off again.

----

* Done with a bit of symbolism ([[FauxSymbolism like everything else]]) in ''Comicbook/ArkhamAsylumASeriousHouseOnSeriousEarth''.

* Done with a bit of symbolism ([[FauxSymbolism like everything else]]) in ''ArkhamAsylumASeriousHouseOnSeriousEarth''.

* ''HunterXHunter'': Hisoka did it, too.

* Done with a bit of symbolism ([[WhatDoYouMeanItsNotSymbolic like everything else]]) in ''ArkhamAsylumASeriousHouseOnSeriousEarth''.

* ''TheBradyBunch'', episode "54-40 and Fight": The boys and the girls face off in a house-of-cards building contest to settle an argument.

* ''FatherTed'', episode "New Jack City", as one instance of a RunningGag where Ted rings Father Larry Duff and interrupts him in the middle of doing something that requires unbroken concentration.

* One ''HagarTheHorrible'' strip.

* Seen in ''GhostTrick''. A prison security guard is building a house of cards, but just as he finishes, he thumps the table with outrage at the prospect of escorting a great police detective, who was convicted of murdering his wife with little evidence other than his (slightly dubious) confession, to be executed. This naturally causes his house of cards to collapse.

* ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'': In one of the short segments done for Tracey Ullman, Bart tries to build a house of cards, and Lisa and Maggie keep unintentionally causing it to collapse.

* The 2003 ''WesternAnimation/{{Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles|2003}}'' cartoon, episode "Scion of the Shredder". The Turtles and Splinter are chilling in their lair, and Michelangelo is building a house of cards. ''Right after'' he places the last two cards, the perimeter alarm goes off. After Donatello hurries to check his computer systems, something starts beating on the front door. The Turtles go for their weapons, and the house of cards gets its very own falling-down shot before it cuts back to the door finally breaking in.
* Happens on an episode of ''WesternAnimation/SpongeBobSquarepants''. [=SpongeBob=] is making a snail-shaped house of cards modeled after Gary, when Patrick comes barreling in and knocks it down.

* At the end of one episode of ''[[CareBears Adventures in Care-a-Lot]]'', it's revealed that [[IneffectualSympatheticVillain Grizzle]] didn't appear because he spent the day building a house of cards, complete with [[EvilLaugh Evil Laughter]] when it's finished. He promptly sneezes, and the whole thing falls over.
* Miss Bitters of ''InvaderZim'' uses this as an object lesson:

* ''{{Jimmy Two-Shoes}}'': Lucius uses his CoolPlane to destroy a giant house of cards. [[ForTheEvulz He's disappointed it wasn't a real house]].

* Subverted in an episode of ''Series/{{Mash}}'': propaganda photographers want to make a fragile amateur sculpture into a symbol of the war, but the artists are trying to destroy their own creation.
* In ''MalcolmInTheMiddle'', with Dewey's set of dominoes. They averted the collapse many times, and Hal was really looking forward to the eventual release (trying to keep himself from giving in to the temptation to set them off)... and then he comes home and Dewey has already done it.

* The opening video of ''RaidouKuzunohaVsTheSoullessArmy'' has Narumi building a house out of matchsticks which gets knocked over by Gouto (the protagonist's [[TalkingAnimal talking cat]] [[NonHumanSidekick sidekick]]) jumping onto his desk.

* In an episode of ''WesternAnimation/TheFairlyOddparents'', Timmy is building a scale model of the Eiffel tower when his dad or mom bursts in and it collapses. Happens as a RunningGag throughout the episode.
* ''Mickey's [[Literature/AChristmasCarol Christmas Carol]]'' has Scrooge counting his money, piling the coins into tall thin stacks as he basically dumps Belle. She storms out, toppling the piles in mid-count.

* In WesternAnimation/TheAdventuresOfJimmyNeutronBoyGenius episode "Who's Your Mommy", when the power of the whole town starts shutting off, we see [[TheBully Butch]] making a very tall tower of rounded sticks.

----

* Ron does this with Exploding Snap cards in ''HarryPotterAndTheGobletOfFire'', and singes his eyebrows in the process.

* Happens on an "Over Our Heads" episode of ''TheFactsOfLife'', when Natalie is trying to stack up some boxes in the store. Everyone keeps slamming the store door and knocking them down.

* Seen twice in ''{{Poirot}}'':
** In the episode based on the first novel "The Mysterious Affair at Styles", Poirot builds a house of cards ''to calm himself''. He knocks it down by slamming his fists on the table, and starts building it anew before Hastings triggers his EurekaMoment.
** A later episode subverts this, with Poirot building an intricate house of cards while on the phone to Inspector Japp. Eventually the whole thing collapses, at which point he picks up the top card and pulls it back up, revealing that it was all stuck together.

* ''TheSimpsons'': In one of the short segments done for Tracey Ullman, Bart tries to build a house of cards, and Lisa and Maggie keep unintentionally causing it to collapse.

* The 2003 ''[[WesternAnimation/TeenageMutantNinjaTurtles2003 Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles]]'' cartoon, episode "Scion of the Shredder". The Turtles and Splinter are chilling in their lair, and Michelangelo is building a house of cards. ''Right after'' he places the last two cards, the perimeter alarm goes off. After Donatello hurries to check his computer systems, something starts beating on the front door. The Turtles go for their weapons, and the house of cards gets its very own falling-down shot before it cuts back to the door finally breaking in.
* Happens on an episode of ''SpongeBobSquarepants''. [=SpongeBob=] is making a snail-shaped house of cards modeled after Gary, when Patrick comes barreling in and knocks it down.

* The ''PhineasAndFerb'' episode, "Cheer Up Candace", began with the two boys putting on the finishing touches of their Temple of Angkor Wat house of card replica. Naturally, thanks to Candace's scream of anguish that triggered the plot of the episode, it collapses before Isabella could take a photo.

* In an episode of ''TheFairlyOddparents'', Timmy is building a scale model of the Eiffel tower when his dad or mom bursts in and it collapses. Happens as a RunningGag throughout the episode.

* In ''TheSimpsons'' episode "Sideshow Bob's Last Gleaming", Sideshow Bob builds a miniature model of Westminster Abbey, which collapses from the sound of people laughing at the Krusty the Klown Show.
* {{Disney}}'s ''Disney/{{Aladdin}}''. The sultan is stacking some tiny statuettes when Jafar slams open the door and they fall down.

* The Klegdixal Ambassador's dust sculpture in ''BuckGodotZapGunForHire''.

* ''TheDarkTower: [[TheDarkTower/TheDrawingOfTheThree The Drawing of the Three]]'' has crime boss Enrico Balazar build a house of cards while he waits for Eddie to cough up the drugs. When things begin go pear-shaped, the [[{{Foreshadowing}} cards collapse]] without him noticing. It's also mentioned that Balazar once killed a man for deliberately knocking over a house that Balazar was constructing.

* ''Mickey's [[AChristmasCarol Christmas Carol]]'' has Scrooge counting his money, piling the coins into tall thin stacks as he basically dumps Belle. She storms out, toppling the piles in mid-count.

* Yugi made one and eventually fell in the Toei ''YuGiOh'' series.

* The {{Yugioh}} fanfiction FanFic/DecksFallEveryoneDies is a metaphorical example. The card house is analogous to the government built around complicated CardGames. The stuff going on in Jamerica causes the government to fall, leaving the duelists hanging like a card house builder's hand.

[[quoteright:350:[[Franchise/WallaceAndGromit http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/HouseOfCards_1307.png]]]]

* ''WallaceAndGromit in WesternAnimation/AGrandDayOut''.

The trope name is a play on EdgarAllanPoe's ''Fall of the House of Usher''.

----

* ''WallaceAndGromit in A Grand Day Out''.