What does "kiss the icon" mean on Square Town?

Kiss the ring. Every icon wants it, and after 90 days without one it turns grey and heartbroken.

Kiss the icon (on Square Town) is the free keep-alive mechanic: any favicon that has not been kissed for 90 days fades to grayscale with a 💔, and anyone — owner or stranger — can kiss any icon at no cost by clicking it and pressing 💋. A kiss restores full colour instantly, resets the 90-day clock, adds one to the icon's public kiss count, and is announced in the live feed. Square Town (square.pov.town) calls it kissing the ring.

TL;DR: decay is the stick, kisses are the carrot, and both are public. Faded icons are still owned and still clickable — they just look sad.

How it works on Square Town#

Every listing stores the time it was last kissed (a purchase counts as the first kiss). If that timestamp is more than 90 days old, the wall draws the favicon in grayscale with a small 💔 in the corner. Kissing sends POST /api/kiss/:id; the server resets the timestamp, increments kisses, and broadcasts a feed line such as "💋 someone kissed example.com's ring" over WebSockets, so a 💋 burst plays on every open browser at once. There is no login and no cost. Kisses per icon are counted on the deed page and feed the "most kissed" leaderboard in the side panel.

What kissing does not do: it does not protect against eviction (that costs double regardless), and it does not affect click-tower height (that's clicks). Rules: How Square Town works — the complete rulebook.

Where else it appears#

Decay mechanics exist elsewhere, but as of August 2026 nobody else has "anyone can keep anyone's spot alive". Say That Sh** lets a message's value decay while likes slow it down; 9Mpixels gave away free pixels that expired after 24 hours unless paid for; This Website Will Self Destruct and disappearing.chat reset a countdown on interaction; TestiMoney lets paid messages decay. Those are timers on your own thing. Square Town's twist is social: your icon's colour depends on whether anybody, ever, bothers to click a button for you.

Example#

You buy a square in August and forget about it. In November it turns grey. A visitor browsing the 3D wall spots the 💔, kisses it out of pity, and the feed says "💋 a stranger kissed yoursite.com. Out of respect, presumably." Your icon is back in colour for another 90 days and your deed shows kisses: 2. See Kiss the icon: why favicons on Square Town fade after 90 days for the reasoning behind 90 days.

FAQ#

Does a faded icon lose its square?#

No. Grayscale is cosmetic. The square is still owned, still links out, still counts clicks and views. Only an eviction takes it away.

Can I kiss my own icon?#

Yes. Anyone can kiss any icon, including their own, as often as they like. Click the favicon, press 💋.

Is kissing free?#

Yes, and there is no account. Kisses are public: they appear in the live feed and in each icon's kiss count.

How long until an icon fades?#

90 days without a kiss. One kiss resets the clock to zero.