# What is Whack-a-Clown?

> Whack-a-Clown is Square Town's free justice mechanic: any visitor can knock a favicon-less clown square off the wall — 24-hour grace, one whack every 10 seconds, mercy check first.

Source: https://square.pov.town/glossary/whack-a-clown

**Whack-a-Clown** (on Square Town) is the free public action that removes a clown square from the wall. Square Town ([square.pov.town](/)) is a favicon wall; a square with no favicon is a dead pixel wearing a 🤡, and any visitor — no deed, no payment — can whack it off. Kissing is how the town shows love; whacking is how it administers justice.

> **TL;DR:** a free square that still has no favicon 24 hours after claiming can be knocked off the wall by anyone, for free — unless the favicon check at the moment of the whack finds an icon, in which case the whack *saves* them instead.

## The rules on Square Town

- **Only free claims are whackable.** A paid square keeps its 🤡 but is immune — removing a paid square always costs money (an [eviction](/glossary/eviction) at 2× what the owner paid). They bought immunity from the mob, not from ridicule. The Throne is paid, so it's exempt.
- **24-hour grace.** A fresh claimant gets a day to read the clown on their deed and add a favicon before open season. The deed shows the countdown.
- **The mercy check.** Every whack re-runs the full favicon check, fresh, at the moment of execution. An icon that now resolves makes the whack fail and clears the clown — a 🎈 escape in the feed. Every whack attempt is a free favicon amnesty; the mallet cannot remove a site that mended its ways, and a check that can't complete removes nobody: unproven guilt walks.
- **One whack every 10 seconds, town-wide.** The Hall of Clowns drains as theater, one act at a time; each whack is a scarce, broadcast event — a giant mallet falls on the tower on every open browser, the red nose bounces off, three juggling balls scatter.
- **No land grab.** The freed lot goes straight back on the market with no reservation for the whacker; wanting their *spot* is an eviction, and evictions cost money. The whacker stays anonymous ("somebody whacked 🤡 example.com off the wall"), and the whacked domain may reclaim a square immediately — the door was never locked.

## Where else it appears

Nowhere, as of August 2026. Uploaded-artwork walls can't have it: nothing on them can be *missing*. Only a wall that displays your live favicon can make "no favicon" a public state — and give the public a mallet.

## Example

A domain claims a square, ships no favicon, and ignores the 🤡 for a week. Someone opens its card, holds the 🔨 button for two seconds, and the town watches a mallet drop out of the sky. If the site had quietly deployed an icon that morning, the same button-press would have cleared its clown and put its real favicon on the wall — the whack can only ever punish sites that still deserve it.

## FAQ

### Can I whack any clown?

No — only a clown that claimed its square for free and has held it for over 24 hours. Paid clowns can only be removed by a paid eviction, and one whack lands every 10 seconds across the whole town.

### Do I get the square if I whack it?

No. The lot reopens at $0 for anyone, including the whacked domain. Whacking is justice, not a land grab.

### I got whacked. Is my domain banned?

Not at all. Add a favicon ([how to](/blog/how-to-add-a-favicon)) and claim a square again, free, immediately.

### Does whacking cost anything?

Nothing, ever. It's one of the town's free verbs, next to looking, [kissing](/glossary/kiss-the-icon) and rechecking.