Square Town (square.pov.town) is a favicon wall — the internet's town square — where every 1×1 square is free to claim and shows the favicon of the URL you paste. For a café, bar, shop or studio it is a fun, cheap thing to do with your website: your icon on a live, 3D wall that people from everywhere scroll and fight over. It is not local marketing. Nobody in town is looking for a bakery near them. But it costs nothing, takes five minutes, and comes with an honest click counter.
TL;DR — Square Town is mostly for indie developers and side projects, and we'll say so. A local business gets the same thing they do: a permanent favicon, a click-through, per-square counts, a tower in 3D, and a small game. Expect curiosity clicks, not customers. No SEO value, no traffic promise, evictable for double what you paid ($1 minimum).
The problem (and why Square Town only half solves it)
A local business's online presence is a Google Business Profile, a map pin, an Instagram, maybe a website that a nephew built. The website's job is to show opening hours and a menu; almost nobody arrives at it from anywhere but Maps or Instagram.
Square Town doesn't change that. The people scrolling the wall are spread across the world and mostly interested in software and small internet things. What Square Town offers a local business is different: a bit of fun, a place to point at, a story for the counter ("we own a square on the internet, it was free, and someone can pay a dollar to take it"), and honest numbers on how many strangers clicked. If that sounds pointless to you, it probably is, and you should keep the five minutes. If it sounds like a laugh, read on.
What a free square gives you
| You get | Detail |
|---|---|
| A permanent favicon on a live wall | Your website's favicon on the shared grid at square.pov.town; free, no renewal |
| A click-through | Visitors click your square, see the card with your domain, and follow the link (via a counted redirect) |
| Honest counts | Views, clicks and kisses on a secret deed page; $5 one-time unlocks per-day charts |
| A tower in 3D | Tilt the wall (ctrl+drag; two-finger drag on a phone) and your favicon is a box whose height equals its clicks plus kisses, tinted with your icon's colour |
| A game to talk about | Evictions (someone pays double what you paid, $1 minimum, to take your spot), the Throne in the centre, kissing icons to keep them from fading, rings unlocking as the wall fills |
| Room for more than one | Every square is 1×1; a business with two locations or two brands can claim adjacent cells |
The wall is live for everyone: when your square lands, it appears in every open browser and in the event feed. That is your fifteen seconds.
How to do it
- Check that your website has a favicon. That is the little icon in the browser tab. Many small-business sites — especially template sites and menu-only pages — have none or use the site builder's default. Without one, Square Town shows a clown emoji on your square and lists your site in the Hall of Clowns. Fixing it takes minutes; see how to add a favicon.
- Open square.pov.town in a browser (it needs JavaScript and WebGL, so a laptop or a modern phone). Hover the live area; empty cells highlight. The gold 4×4 in the centre is the Throne — leave it alone unless you enjoy spending $100 on a joke.
- Click an empty cell, paste your website address, and look at the preview. If it shows your logo, good. If it shows a clown, stop and fix the favicon first.
- Add an email address and press Claim. It's free — no card, no account, no subscription, nothing to cancel. The email is where your deed link can be sent and where a warning goes if someone evicts you (tick the box).
- Save the deed URL you land on. It is the only proof you own the square — there is no login and no password reset. Bookmark it or paste it into wherever you keep the website's details.
- Optionally unlock analytics for $5 one-time from the deed page if you want per-day view and click charts. For most local businesses the free totals are plenty.
Tips
- Pick a spot near the Throne if you want to be seen — the camera starts centred and the live area is only 16×16 at launch (it grows by 4 in every direction each time it is 75 % full).
- Kiss your icon now and then. Anyone can kiss any icon free — click it, press 💋. It's public, it's counted, and the tower grows a storey. Ask a regular to do it.
- Keep the favicon. If you rebuild the site and the icon disappears, the clown returns until you add it back and press "I fixed my favicon".
- Use your real logo as the favicon. A recognisable mark at 16 pixels beats a tiny photograph. See favicon design tips at 16 px.
- Save the deed URL. Losing it means losing the counts and the recheck button; the square itself stays.
- Don't claim it as advertising. Claim it because it's fun. If someone evicts you for $1, that's a story too.
What it won't do
- No SEO value. The wall is a WebGL canvas and clicks are 302 redirects. A square does not help your site rank locally or anywhere else. Your Google Business Profile matters a hundred times more.
- No customers. Square Town's audience is global and mostly interested in software. Expect curiosity clicks from people who will never visit your shop.
- No traffic guarantees. Some squares get clicked a lot; many don't. The deed page shows the truth.
- You can be evicted. Anyone can take your square by paying double what you paid, $1 minimum (free → $1 → $2), announced in the live feed. You can take it back for double again or claim another cell for free.
- It's not a listing. No address, no hours, no map — a favicon and a link. Your website does the rest.
For who Square Town is actually built for, see Square Town for indie hackers and how it works.
FAQ
Should a local business claim a square on Square Town?
Only for fun. It's free and gives you a permanent favicon on a live 3D wall with click counts, but the audience is global and not looking for local shops. Treat it as a novelty, not marketing.
Will a square on Square Town bring customers to my café or shop?
Almost certainly not. Expect a few curiosity clicks from strangers around the world. Your Google Business Profile, Maps listing and social accounts do the real work.
Does it help my website rank on Google?
No. Clicks are 302 redirects from a JavaScript canvas; there is no backlink or link equity involved.
How much does it cost and is there a subscription?
Nothing — a square is free, no card. No account, no subscription, no renewal. Money only enters if someone evicts you (double what you paid, $1 minimum, paid by card through Stripe). Per-day analytics is an optional $5 one-time. The Throne in the centre starts at $100 and doubles at every eviction.
What if my website has no favicon?
Square Town shows a clown emoji on your square and lists your site publicly in the Hall of Clowns until you add a favicon and press the recheck button. Add one before claiming.
What happens if someone evicts my square?
They pay $1 (double what you paid, with a $1 floor), your icon comes off, the live feed announces it, and you get an email if you asked for one. You can evict them back for $2 or claim any empty cell for free.
Can I put two locations or two brands in town?
Yes. Every square is 1×1 and you pick the cell, so claim adjacent squares, one per website. Each gets its own deed and its own counts.