Struggling with Easy, Medium, or Hard levels? All the help you need is here.
Welcome to your guide for Pips, the latest game in the New York Times collection. Launched in August 2025, Pips offers a fresh take on dominoes, providing a fun solo gaming experience that could become your daily go-to activity.
Currently, if you get stuck, the game reveals the entire puzzle, prompting you to level up and start anew. However, we’ve got you covered! Below are step-by-step hints to guide you through each difficulty level.
How to play Pips:
If you’ve played dominoes, Pips will seem familiar. Like dominoes, tiles in Pips are placed vertically or horizontally to connect. The main distinction between a traditional domino game and Pips is the color-coded conditions that you must address. Connecting tiles don’t have to match exactly in Pips.
The conditions you need to meet are detailed for color-coded spaces. For instance, if a space provides a single number, each side of a tile within that space must add up to the given number. Only part of a tile might fall within a color-coded space.
Here are common scenarios you’ll encounter:
– 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: Each domino half in this space must have a different number of pips.
– 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.
If a space lacks color coding, it means there are no requirements for sections of dominoes in those areas.
Easy difficulty hints for April 7 Pips:
– Number (4): Sum to 4. Solution: 4-6, horizontal.
– Equal (6): Each part equals 6. Solution: 4-6, horizontal; 6-0, horizontal.
– Equal (4): Each part equals 4. Solution: 4-4, horizontal.
– Number (3): Sum to 3. Solution: 1-1, horizontal; 1-6, horizontal.
Medium difficulty hints for April 7 Pips:
– Number (4): Sum to 4. Solution: 1-1, horizontal; 2-2, horizontal.
– Less Than (3): Each part below 3. Solution: 2-2, horizontal; 0-4, vertical.
– Number (7): Sum to 7. Solution: 6-3, horizontal; 1-2, vertical.
– Equal (3): Each part equals 3. Solution: 6-3, horizontal; 3-5, vertical.
– Less Than (7): Each part below 7. Solution: 2-5, vertical; 0-4, vertical.
– Number (2): Sum to 2. Solution: 1-2, vertical.
– Equal (5): Each part equals 5. Solution: 3-5, vertical; 2-5, vertical; 5-4, horizontal.
– Number (4): Sum to 4. Solution: 5-4, horizontal.
Hard difficulty hints for April 7 Pips:
– Number (4): Sum to 4. Solution: 2-0, vertical; 2-1, vertical.
– Number (2): Sum to 2. Solution: 3-1, horizontal; 1-4, horizontal.
– Number (1): Sum to 1. Solution: 2-1, vertical.
– Number (6): Sum to 6. Solution: 3-1, horizontal; 3-0, vertical.
– Number (0): Sum to 0. Solution: 5-0, horizontal.
– Number (8): Sum to 8. Solution: 1-4, horizontal; 4-2, vertical.
– Number (0): Sum to zero. Solution: 2-0, vertical; 0-4, horizontal.
– Number (0): Sum to zero. Solution: 3-0, vertical.
– Number (10): Sum to 10. Solution: 5-3, vertical.
– Number (4): Sum to 4. Solution: 2-3, vertical; 4-2, vertical.
– Number (2): Sum to 2. Solution: 2-5, vertical.
– Number (8): Sum to 8. Solution: 0-4, horizontal; 4-3, horizontal.
– Equal (3): Each part equals 3. Solution: 4-3, horizontal; 5-3, vertical; 2-3, vertical.
– Number (10): Sum to 10. Solution: 2