The rules
Short version: rank is bought in the open, claiming is the game, nothing is hidden. Entry is $5.
What does $5 actually buy?
A plot in town, instantly — carrying your name, your logo and a clickable link to your site. No account, nothing to cancel. The $5 exists so bots can't fill the town with spam.
How does my building grow?
Every dollar you ever pay — the first one and the Moon ones included — lands in one lifetime total, and the total buys the building. It grows through seven sizes, instantly on payment: the full ladder with exact prices is below. Your plot is yours — you pick it when you claim, and it never moves. Rank grows the building ON it, and the top ten win the town's physical ad surfaces.
| Size | Building | Yours outright at | Signature perk | Facade banners |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | plot | $5 (the claim) | your logo canopy + nameplate on the cart | 1 |
| 2 | market stall | $7 | two lawn standees flanking the entrance | 1 |
| 3 | corner shop | $10 | glowing rooftop logo cube | 2 |
| 4 | two-storey store | $25 | lit window poster on the facade | 3 |
| 5 | office block | $100 | glowing ground-floor showcase + rooftop sign | 4 |
| 6 | tower | $250 | vertical neon strip down the corner | 5 |
| 7 | skyscraper | $600 | crown lights + antenna beacon on the skyline | 6 |
How a step happens: pay any amount, and the moment the payment clears your lifetime total re-buys your building — there is no waiting period, no daily tick. Reach a rung's price, get the size, keep it.
Past the top rung — the supertall: at $1,000 lifetime your skyscraper stops being a taller box and becomes a different building: three setbacks tapering to a lit needle, the tallest silhouette in the world and the only shape money alone buys. Visible from both isles.
Two accelerators: on a young board a large share of the total pot can fast-track you above your spend rung for a while; and the town's skyline grows with its biggest spender — but the unlock thresholds equal the rung prices themselves, so your own purchase always unlocks your own size, instantly. Past the top rung, height itself keeps climbing with spend: a $10,000 skyscraper visibly dwarfs a $600 one, and nothing caps how tall the leader can go.
What decides my rank?
Rank is your lifetime spend, in dollars, descending. No multipliers, no engagement formula — the number on your building is the number that ranks it. Ties go to whoever arrived first.
Can someone just buy the whole town?
Yes — this is an open auction. Pay what the rank is worth to you and take it in one move; there is no relative ceiling and no waiting period. The answer to losing a rank is claiming it back. (The only limit is the card processor's single-payment maximum.)
Can my building shrink?
The size your own dollars bought outright is yours forever — being overtaken can out-build you, it can't demolish that. One nuance, in the open: on a young board a big share of a small pot can fast-track you a size or two ahead of your spend, and that bonus can settle back as the board grows. Spend-bought floors never move. Your rank always moves with the board; your plot never does — that's the game.
What are the advertising surfaces?
#1 holds the airship, the town-gate arch, a wrap on their own skyscraper, a jumbotron, four Main Street billboards and the drive-in end card. #2 flies the helicopter banner and holds the second jumbotron, two Main Street boards and a wrap. #3 holds a wrap, two ring-road boards and the town-square standees. #4–10 hold one ring-road billboard each — and every rank in the top ten races a boat with a logo parasail in the regatta. Every surface is clickable through to its holder's site and reallocates live as the board changes. The full map is at /ooh.
How does the Moon work?
$50 flies your flag on the Moon and the launch-pad masts for 5 full days — one booking, one price. The Moon runs a queue: book while someone's flag flies and yours goes up the moment theirs comes down. Moon dollars also count toward your building in town.
Refunds?
Payments are final — they're spent on placement the moment they clear, exactly like any other advertising.
What's not allowed
Adult content, chat-app invite links, and anything illegal in the US. Signs and banners can't carry other domains — the town sells exactly one kind of advertising, and it's the kind you bid for. We can hide a listing that breaks these rules; the spend is not refunded.