# What is the Hall of Clowns? > The Hall of Clowns is Square Town's public list of sites with no favicon: they get a clown emoji on the wall until they add one and press "I fixed my favicon". Source: https://square.pov.town/glossary/hall-of-clowns The **Hall of Clowns** (on Square Town) is the public list of squares whose site has no favicon. Because Square Town ([square.pov.town](/)) is a favicon wall — it fetches your icon instead of letting you upload one — a site with nothing to fetch shows a **🤡** in its cell until it adds a favicon and presses **"I fixed my favicon"**. Joining and escaping the Hall are both announced in the live feed. > **TL;DR:** the wall needs your favicon; if you don't have one it gives you a clown, tells everyone, and lets you fix it with one click. ## How it works on Square Town Right after a purchase completes, Square Town asks Google's favicon service for your domain's icon (the same service that renders every icon on the wall). Google answers HTTP 200 when a real favicon exists and 404 when it doesn't — that is the whole detector. A 404 marks the listing as a clown, the wall draws 🤡 in your square, and the feed posts "🤡 example.com has no favicon and joins the Hall of Clowns". A transient error leaves the site "unknown", which means no clown; Square Town never punishes a hiccup. The current clown list is public in `GET /api/state`. To leave: add a favicon to your site (see [/blog/how-to-add-a-favicon](/blog/how-to-add-a-favicon) and [/glossary/favicon](/glossary/favicon)), then click your square on the wall and press "I fixed my favicon". Square Town re-asks Google; if the answer is now 200, the clown goes, your real icon appears, and the feed says "🎈 example.com added a favicon and escaped the Hall of Clowns". Anyone can press the recheck button — it only ever helps. ## Where else it appears Nowhere, as of August 2026. Pixel walls and [logo walls](/glossary/logo-wall) never have this problem because you upload the artwork yourself — and never have this incentive either. Square Town is the only wall where the thing on display is your live favicon, so a missing one is visible to everyone and fixing it takes effect on the wall for free. Rules: [/how-it-works](/how-it-works). ## Example You buy a square for a weekend project that ships with the framework's default (blank) icon. Ten seconds later your cell is a clown and your friends have screenshots. You add a 32×32 PNG and a ``, deploy, click your square, press the button, and the wall swaps the clown for your icon while the feed applauds with a balloon. Total cost: $1 and some dignity. ## FAQ ### Why did my site get a clown? Google's favicon service returned 404 for your domain, meaning it found no favicon. Add one and press "I fixed my favicon" on your square. ### Do I still own the square while I'm a clown? Yes. A clown is a display state, not a penalty. Views, clicks and kisses still count and the square can still be evicted like any other. ### How long does the recheck take? It's instant: pressing the button re-queries Google's favicon service and updates the wall for everyone. If Google still caches the old (missing) icon, wait a bit and press again. ### Can I upload an icon instead? No. Square Town only uses the favicon your site actually serves — that's what keeps the wall honest and upload-free.