Stuck on Easy, Medium, or Hard? We’ve got everything you need.
By March 17, 2026
Welcome to your guide to Pips, the latest game in the New York Times catalogue. Released in August 2025, Pips puts a unique spin on dominoes, delivering a fun single-player experience that could become your next daily gaming habit.
If you’re stuck, the game offers only to reveal the entire puzzle, but we’ve got you covered! Below are piecemeal answers serving as hints to guide you through each difficulty level.
How to play Pips
If you’ve played dominoes, you’ll understand Pips. The tiles, like dominoes, are placed vertically or horizontally and connect with each other. The difference with Pips is the color-coded conditions. The touching tiles don’t necessarily have to match.
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The conditions specific to color-coded spaces involve rules like:
– Number: All pips must add up to the number.
– Equal: Every domino half must have the same number.
– Not Equal: Every domino half must have a different number.
– Less than: Every domino half must add up to less than the number.
– Greater than: Every domino half must add up to more than the number.
Non-color-coded areas have no conditions.
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Easy difficulty hints, answers for March 18 Pips
– Equal (4): Everything must be 4. Answer: 4-4, horizontally.
– Greater Than (4): Everything must be greater than 4. Answer: 3-5, horizontally.
– Number (3): Everything must add up to 3. Answer: 3-2, horizontally.
– Equal (6): Everything must be 6. Answer: 5-6, 6-6, 6-3, horizontally.
– Number (3): Everything must add up to 3. Answer: 6-3, horizontally.
Medium difficulty hints, answers for March 18 Pips
– Number (3): Everything must add up to 3. Answer: 3-0, vertically.
– Greater Than (3): Everything must be greater than 3. Answer: 4-2, horizontally.
– Equal (1): Everything must be 1. Answer: 1-1, vertically.
– Equal (5): Everything must be 5. Answer: 5-0, 5-5, vertically.
– Number (3): Everything must add up to 3. Answer: 3-4, vertically.
– Equal (0): Everything must be 0. Answer: 0-0, horizontally; 5-0, vertically; 0-4, horizontally.
– Equal (4): Everything must be 4. Answer: 0-4, horizontally; 3-4, vertically.
Hard difficulty hints, answers for March 18 Pips
– Number (5): Everything must add up to 5. Answer: 5-1, vertically.
– Number (3): Everything must add up to 3. Answer: 1-3, horizontally.
– Number (10): Everything must add up to 10. Answer: 5-2, vertically; 5-4, horizontally.
– Number (11): Everything must add up to 10. Answer: 2-4, vertically; 5-4, horizontally; 3-6, vertically.
– Number (4): Everything must add up to 4. Answer: 5-1, vertically; 1-3, horizontally; 1-1, vertically.
– Number (9): Everything must add up to 9. Answer: 5-6, horizontally; 4-0, horizontally.
– Number (24): Everything must add up to 24. Answer: 5-6, horizontally; 6-6, vertically; 3-6, vertically.
– Number (10): Everything in light blue must add up to 10. Answer: 3-4, horizontally; 3-5, horizontally.
– Number (10): Everything in orange must add up to 10. Answer: 3-5, horizontally; 5-0, horizontally.
– Number (0): Everything must add up to 0. Answer: 4-0, vertically; 0-0, vertically; 5-0, horizontally.
– Number (3): Everything must add up to 3. Answer: 2-3, vertically.
If you’re looking for more puzzles, Mashable has games now! Check out our games hub for Mahjong, Sudoku, free crossword, and more.
Topics: Gaming