Stuck on Easy, Medium, or Hard? Find everything you need right here.
By on May 19, 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, creating a fun single-player experience that could become your next daily gaming habit.
If you’re stuck, the game only offers to reveal the entire puzzle, forcing a move to the next difficulty level. We have you covered! Below are piecemeal answers serving as hints to help you navigate each difficulty level.
How to play Pips
If you’ve played dominoes, you’ll find Pips familiar. The tiles, like dominoes, are placed vertically or horizontally and connect with each other. The main difference is the color-coded conditions to address. Touching tiles don’t necessarily have to match.
The conditions you must meet are specific to the color-coded spaces. For example, if a single number is provided, every side of a tile in that space must add up to the number. It’s possible for only half a tile to be within a color-coded space.
Here are common examples across difficulty levels:
Number: All the 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: Every domino half in this space must have a different number of pips.
Less than: Every domino half in this space must add up to less than the number.
Greater than: Every domino half in this space must add up to more than the number.
If an area lacks color coding, there are no conditions on the dominoes within those spaces.
Easy difficulty hints, answers for May 19 Pips
Less Than (4): Must be less than 4. Answer: 2-2, horizontally; 1-1, vertically.
Number (5): Must add up to 5. Answer: 1-1, vertically; 4-4, vertically.
Greater Than (9): Must be greater than 9. Answer: 4-4, vertically; 6-6, horizontally.
Equal (3): Must be equal to 3. Answer: 3-3, horizontally.
Medium difficulty hints, answers for May 19 Pips
Number (11): Must add up to 11. Answer: 4-4, horizontally; 1-0, vertically; 6-5, vertically.
Less Than (2): Must be less than 2. Answer: 1-0, vertically.
Number (11): Must add up to 11. Answer: 6-5, vertically; 6-3, horizontally.
Greater Than (4): Must be greater than 4. Answer: 6-4, vertically.
Greater Than (3): Must be greater than 3. Answer: 6-4, vertically.
Number (1): Must add up to 1. Answer: 2-1, vertically.
Equal (3): Must be equal to 3. Answer: 6-3, horizontally; 3-3, horizontally.
Hard difficulty hints, answers for May 19 Pips
Equal (1): Must be equal to 1. Answer: 0-1, horizontally; 1-1, horizontally; 1-2, horizontally.
Greater Than (0): Must be greater than 0. Answer: 1-2, horizontally.
Number (9): Must add up to 9. Answer: 3-1, horizontally; 3-3, horizontally.
Number (2): Must add up to 2. Answer: 3-1, horizontally; 1-5, horizontally.
Number (8): Must add up to 8. Answer: 4-4, horizontally.
Number (9): Must add up to 9. Answer: 5-4, horizontally.
Number (9): Must add up to 9. Answer: 1-5, horizontally; 4-6, horizontally.
Number (9): Must add up to 9. Answer: 2-2, horizontally; 5-3, horizontally.
Number (8): Must add up to 8. Answer: 5-3, horizontally; 5-6, horizontally.
Equal (6): Must be equal to 6. Answer: 4-6, horizontally; 5-6, horizontally; 6-6, horizontally.
If you’re looking for more puzzles, Mashable’s got games! Check out our games hub for Mahjong, Sudoku, free crossword, and more. Topics: Gaming