Stuck on Easy, Medium, or Hard? We’ve got you covered.
Welcome to your guide to Pips, the latest game from the New York Times catalogue. Released in August 2025, Pips offers a unique take on dominoes, creating a fun single-player experience that might become your next daily gaming habit. When stuck, the game only reveals the entire puzzle, making you move to the next difficulty level and start over. But don’t worry! Below are piecemeal answers to guide you through each difficulty.
How to play Pips:
If you’ve played dominoes, you’re close to understanding Pips. Like dominoes, tiles are placed vertically or horizontally, connecting to one another. The twist in Pips lies in the color-coded conditions you must address. Touching tiles don’t need to match.
Examples across difficulty levels:
– Number: All pips in this space must add up to the number.
– Equal: Every domino half in this space must have the same number of pips.
– Not Equal: Domino halves must have different numbers of pips.
– Less than: Each domino half must add to less than the number.
– Greater than: Domino halves must add up to more than the number.
Areas without color coding mean no conditions.
Easy difficulty hints:
– Number (11): Add up to 11 with 6-3 vertically, 5-5 horizontally.
– Number (9): Add up to 9 with 5-5 horizontally, 2-0 vertically, 2-3 horizontally.
– Equal (3): Each half with 3 pips, 2-3 horizontally, 0-3 horizontally.
– Equal (0): Each half with 0 pips, 2-0 vertically, 0-3 horizontally.
Medium difficulty hints:
– Less Than (3): Sum less than 3 with 2-4 vertically.
– Less Than (7): Sum less than 7 with 0-0 vertically.
– Number (6): Add to 6 with 6-0 horizontally.
– Number (8): Add to 8 with 2-4 vertically, 4-6 horizontally.
– Number (4): Add to 4 with 2-2 horizontally.
– Number (6): Add to 6 with 4-3 horizontally, 6-2 horizontally.
– Number (12): Add to 12 with 4-6 horizontally, 6-2 horizontally.
Hard difficulty hints:
– Number (3): Half with 3 pips, answer is 3-0 horizontally.
– Number (0): Add to 0 with 3-0 horizontally, 0-4 vertically.
– Greater Than (0): Half more than 0 pips, 1-0 horizontally.
– Number (0): Half with 0 pips, 1-0 horizontally.
– Equal (5): Every half with 5 pips, answers are 5-5 vertically, 5-4 horizontally, 5-2 vertically.
– Equal (4): Half with 4 pips, 0-4 vertically, 5-4 horizontally.
– Number (3): Half with 3 pips, 6-3 horizontally.
– Equal (2): Half with 2 pips, 4-2 horizontally, 5-2 vertically.
– Less Than (5): Sum less than 5 with 1-1 vertically, 2-1 horizontally, 6-1 horizontally.
– Number (0): Sum to 0 with 0-0 vertically.
– Number (8): Sum to 8 with 2-1 horizontally, 6-1 horizontally.
– Equal (4): Half with 4 pips, 4-4 horizontally.
– Number (8): Sum to 8 with 5-3 horizontally.
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