Rules

Last updated: 13 September 2026

1. The billboards

The site is a 3D model of Times Square with 605 billboards on real buildings. They come in three sizes:

• Spectacular: the giant corner screens, up to 31 m wide.
• Large: big screens on the main facades.
• Standard: the smaller screens that crowd the lower floors.

Each open spot has a starting price based on its size and location. Screens on 7th Avenue, Broadway and West 45th Street, screens at eye level, and landmark buildings cost more. The billboards are virtual. They exist only on this website.

2. Taking a spot

• Open spot: bid at least its starting price.
• Taken spot: your total must be at least 10% more than the current total, rounded up to the next whole dollar. For example, if a spot's current total is $240, you need $264.
• All amounts are in whole US dollars.
• You take the spot as soon as your payment is confirmed.

3. Pay only the difference

Everything you pay on a spot adds up to your total for that spot, and it keeps counting after someone outbids you. To win the spot back, you pay only what's needed to bring your total to the new minimum.

Example: you pay $100 for a spot. Sam takes it with $110. To win it back you need a total of $121 (10% above $110). You've already paid $100, so you pay $21.

Your total belongs to your account and to that one spot. It can't be moved to another spot or cashed out.

4. Holding a spot

• No time limit and no minimum display period. You keep the spot until someone outbids you, whether that's in a minute or a year.
• You can raise your own total at any time by any whole dollar. That makes your spot more expensive to take and moves you up the leaderboard.

5. Timing

Payments count in the order they're confirmed. If someone else takes the spot while you're paying, and your total no longer beats theirs by 10%, you don't get the spot. Your payment isn't refunded, but it still counts toward your total for that spot, so it brings you closer to winning it back.

6. The leaderboard

• By product: every product holding a spot, ranked by its total on that spot.
• By profile: every spot your products hold, added together.
• Only spots you currently hold count.

7. What your billboard can show

Only your app logo or a product ad for your own app or product. Upload it as one image (PNG, JPG or WebP, up to 10 MB) or one short video (MP4 or WebM, up to 25 MB and 20 seconds). Videos loop and always play silently. We fit it to the screen without stretching. Your name (up to 45 characters) and one link appear in the listings and leaderboard, not on the billboard.

Anything else will be removed, and the payment won't be refunded. That includes:

• personal messages, memes, jokes, announcements or text-only statements;
• photos of people, and other people's or companies' logos, products or trademarks;
• QR codes, phone numbers, coupon codes, or anything asking people to contact you;
• anything NSFW, hateful, violent or illegal, and any scam, phishing or malware;
• ads for gambling, weapons, drugs, tobacco, or political or election campaigns.

Your link must go straight to your own website, app store page or social profile. No link shorteners, redirects or link-in-bio pages, and no invite links to chats, groups or servers (Discord, Telegram, WhatsApp, Slack and similar).

A removed ad stops holding its spot, and what was paid for it stops counting, so the spot goes back to the next-highest bidder or opens at its starting price.

8. All payments are final

Payments are one-time, processed by Stripe, with no subscriptions. We don't give refunds when:

• someone outbids you, however soon after you paid;
• your payment is confirmed after someone else has taken the spot (section 5);
• your ad gets fewer views or clicks than you hoped; or
• we remove your ad for breaking these rules.

The only exception is a mistake on our side. If you're charged twice for the same payment, or charged because of an error or bug on our side (for example, your payment went through but your ad never went live), we'll refund that charge in full. Email hello@nycsquarebid.lol with your receipt.

See the Terms for the full legal wording, including how this works with the EU right of withdrawal.

9. Not the real Times Square

nycsquarebid.lol isn't affiliated with the Times Square Alliance, the building owners, or any real billboard operator. Building names only describe where a screen sits in the model.

Questions? Email hello@nycsquarebid.lol.