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Pixel-art seaside town with favicon buildings around a glowing golden square.

The Square Town blog

Guides, listicles and opinions for indie developers who ship more projects than they can promote.

31 pages
  1. 2026-08-18Square Town is live: 1 square = free, and the wall is a gameSquare Town launches August 2026: a 3D favicon wall, every square free to claim, anyone can evict you for double ($1 minimum), anyone can kiss any icon, the wall grows as it fills.
  2. 2026-08-18The 12 best Million Dollar Homepage alternatives in 2026The Million Dollar Homepage sold out in 2006. Twelve pixel, favicon and logo walls you can still buy on in 2026, with prices and honest pros and cons.
  3. 2026-08-1817 places to promote an indie project for under $10 (2026)17 free and cheap places to promote an indie project in 2026: Show HN, r/SideProject, Product Hunt, free logo tiles and free favicon squares, honestly rated.
  4. 2026-08-18How to promote 10+ side projects at once without going brokeA plan for developers with many side projects: one hub page, consistent favicons, free squares as a visual index, batched launches and a $10 budget.
  5. 2026-08-18The Million Dollar Homepage, 21 years later: what survived and what didn'tThe Million Dollar Homepage sold out in 2006 for $1.04M. In 2026 it's frozen with ~40% dead links, its clones mostly parked, and a new wave of $1 walls — plus one that's free.
  6. 2026-08-18Every pixel wall you can still buy a spot on, ranked (August 2026)20 pixel walls, favicon walls and logo grids still selling spots in August 2026, ranked by price, reason to return, fit for site owners and signs of life.
  7. 2026-08-18The big list of Million Dollar Homepage clones (2005–2026)A reference list of Million Dollar Homepage clones, 2005–2026, by era: the 2005–07 wave, NFT years, fiat revival, agent grids and pay-to-rank, with status.
  8. 2026-08-26You can now bulldoze a square — eviction's anonymous, pettier cousinSquare Town's new bulldoze move: pay the normal eviction price (2× what the owner paid, $1 minimum), place nothing, and the square reopens empty at $0. Why it exists and how the game changes.
  9. 2026-08-18How Square Town runs a live 3D pixel wall on Cloudflare's free tierHow Square Town runs a live 3D favicon wall on Cloudflare Workers, D1 and one Durable Object — WebSockets, Stripe webhooks, a favicon proxy — for free.
  10. 2026-08-18The dead-link problem: why every pixel wall rots (and what Square Town does about it)About 40 % of Million Dollar Homepage links are dead. Why every pixel wall rots, and how Square Town's free public kisses, evictions and Hall of Clowns fight it.
  11. 2026-08-18The economics of eviction: what doubling prices actually doSquare Town's evict-for-double rule in practice: the $1 to $512 ladder from a free square, why most squares are never evicted, how the Throne prices itself, when to evict.
  12. 2026-08-18Favicon design tips: an icon that reads at 16 pixelsPractical favicon design tips: one shape, high contrast, no text, solid background, tested at 16 and 32 px — plus how Square Town's wall renders your icon.
  13. 2026-08-18Free and nearly-free marketing for solo developers (a $20 budget)How a solo developer markets a side project on $20: a budget (domain, free squares on Square Town, one tiny paid test) plus free tactics that work in 2026.
  14. 2026-08-18The Hall of Clowns: why sites without favicons get a 🤡Square Town gives sites with no favicon a clown emoji and a public Hall of Clowns entry. How the check works, how to fix your favicon, the recheck button.
  15. 2026-08-18A short history of paying to hold the centreThe pay-to-hold-the-centre mechanic, from King of the Ether Throne (2016) via Milliboard and The Pixel Orbit to Square Town's $100 doubling Throne.
  16. 2026-08-18How to add a favicon to your site in 2026 (and stop being a clown)Practical 2026 favicon guide: favicon.ico vs link rel=icon, SVG with dark mode, the sizes that matter, a copy-paste head snippet, and how to verify it.
  17. 2026-08-18How to pick a good square in town (location strategy)Where to put your free square on Square Town's wall: near the Throne, a corner or a neighbourhood, and why the live area, aura ring and 3D view matter.
  18. 2026-08-18The indie hacker launch checklist (2026 edition)A 20-item indie hacker launch checklist for 2026: favicon, OG image, analytics, Show HN, Product Hunt, r/SideProject, a free square on Square Town, llms.txt.
  19. 2026-08-18Internet real estate for beginners: what you actually ownInternet real estate for beginners: domains vs pixels vs NFTs vs free squares, what you literally own, the risks, and a checklist before you buy.
  20. 2026-08-18Is buying pixels still worth it in 2026? An honest answerPixel advertising in 2026, honestly: no SEO value on canvas walls, tiny traffic, real value in fun and showcase. When free is worth it and $100 isn't.
  21. 2026-08-18Kiss the icon: why favicons on Square Town faded after 90 daysThe design story of Square Town's decay mechanic — an icon not kissed for 90 days would fade to grayscale. Currently switched off; kissing itself remains, free and counted.
  22. 2026-08-18Pay-to-rank vs spatial ownership: two ways to sell attention on one pagePay-to-rank lists (Milliboard, Pixel Orbit) vs spatial walls (Square Town, Million Dollar Homepage): how each sells attention and why we chose the map.
  23. 2026-08-18The pixel-wall graveyard: why ~120 Million Dollar Homepage clones diedAbout 120 of 434 pixel walls checked in August 2026 are dead. The casualties, five reasons they die, the design answers, and why Square Town could die too.
  24. 2026-08-18How to showcase every project you've ever shipped (favicons as a portfolio)Favicons as a visual index of everything you've shipped: a portfolio grid, a GitHub README table, an OG image, and a free square per project on Square Town.
  25. 2026-08-1812 side-project portfolio ideas for developers with too many projects12 ways to show off a pile of side projects: a favicon grid, a graveyard page, a changelog feed, a free square each on Square Town, a Now page and llms.txt.
  26. 2026-08-18The Throne, explained: the $100 centre of the internet's town squareThe Throne is Square Town's 4×4 gold centre tile: one owner, $100 to start, doubles on every eviction. How it works, why it prices itself, how it compares.
  27. 2026-08-18What happens when you get evicted on Square Town (and what to do next)Evicted on Square Town? The exact sequence — someone pays double ($1 minimum), the live feed announces it, an email if you asked for one, your deed shows EVICTED — and your three options.
  28. 2026-08-18What is a favicon wall? (definition, history, and how Square Town's works)A favicon wall is a shared grid where each cell shows one website's favicon and links to it. Definition, history, how it differs from pixel walls.
  29. 2026-08-18Why 1×1 favicon squares beat 10×10 pixel adsWhy favicon squares beat 10×10 pixel blocks: legible at 16px, zero design work, one square per domain, no dead images — plus the honest downside.
  30. 2026-08-18Why a square is free, and why the dollar is the floor (and there are no sizes)Square Town squares are free — $0, no card — and the $1 is the minimum it costs to evict one. Why the dollar sits at the floor instead of the door, no sizes, no uploads, and how it compares to MDH's $100 minimum and SaaSBoard's $10/mo.
  31. 2026-08-18Why the wall is 3D: click towers, a real sun, vanishing treesHow Square Town's 3D favicon wall works: three.js, an orthographic camera, towers as tall as their clicks plus kisses, hash-seeded trees and a sun on local time.