Pips is the newest entry in the New York Times games series, introduced in August 2025. This innovative game presents a fresh interpretation of dominoes, delivering an enjoyable single-player experience that may just become your new daily gaming routine.
At present, if you find yourself at an impasse, the game permits revealing the whole puzzle, which compels you to progress to the next difficulty level and restart. However, there’s no need to fret! Below are some clues to assist you in maneuvering through each difficulty tier.
How to play Pips
If you are familiar with dominoes, you’ll recognize how Pips functions. Similar to dominoes, the tiles are set either vertically or horizontally and interconnect. The key distinction lies in the color-coded conditions you must fulfill. The adjoining tiles do not necessarily need to align.
The criteria you must satisfy correspond to the specified color-coded areas. For instance, if it specifies a single number, each side of a tile in that area must total the indicated number. Often, just half a tile may fall within a color-coded area.
Here are typical examples you might encounter across various difficulty levels:
– Number: All the pips in this area must sum to the indicated number.
– Equal: Every domino half in this area must have the identical number of pips.
– Not Equal: Each domino half in this area must display a completely distinct number of pips.
– Less than: Each domino half in this area must total fewer than the given number.
– Greater than: Each domino half in this area must total more than the given number.
If a section lacks color coding, it indicates that there are no stipulations regarding the segments of dominoes within those areas.
Easy difficulty hints, answers for Sept. 2 Pips
– Number (5): All items in this area must sum to 5. The answer is 5-0, arranged vertically.
– Equal (0): All items in this red area must equal 0. The answer is 5-0, arranged vertically; 0-2, arranged horizontally.
– Equal (4): All items in this light blue area must equal 4. The answer is 4-4, arranged horizontally.
– Number (5): All items in this area must sum to 5. The answer is 5-3, arranged horizontally.
Medium difficulty hints, answers for Sept. 2 Pips
– Number (2): All items in this area must sum to 2. The answer is 0-0, arranged horizontally; 2-1, arranged vertically.
– Number (0): All items in this area must equal 0. The answer is 0-0, arranged horizontally.
– Number (6): All items in this area must sum to 6. The answer is 6-2, arranged horizontally.
– Number (1): All items in this area must sum to 1. The answer is 2-1, arranged vertically.
– Number (3): All items in this area must sum to 3. The answer is 3-2, arranged vertically; 4-1, arranged horizontally.
– Number (1): All items in this area must sum to 1. The answer is 2-1, arranged vertically.
– Number (4): All items in this area must sum to 4. The answer is 2-4, arranged horizontally; 1-1, arranged vertically.
Hard difficulty hints, answers for Sept. 2 Pips
– Number (5): All items in this purple area must sum to 5. The answer is 0-0, arranged horizontally; 5-6, arranged vertically.
– Number (0): All items in this red area must equal 0. The answer is 0-0, arranged horizontally; 2-1, arranged vertically.
– Number (21): All items in this light blue area must sum to 21. The answer is 5-6, arranged vertically; 4-5, arranged horizontally; 3-5, arranged horizontally; 0-6, arranged horizontally.
– Number (3): All items in this green area must sum to 3. The answer is 3-5, arranged horizontally.
– Number (0): All items in this purple area must equal 0. The answer is 0-6, arranged horizontally.
– Number (3): All items in this yellow area must sum to 3. The answer is 1-3, arranged horizontally; 2-6, arranged horizontally.
– Number (11): All items in this area must sum to 11. The answer is 4-5, arranged horizontally; 6-1, arranged horizontally.
– Number (3): All items in this dark blue area must sum to 3. The answer is 1-2, arranged vertically.
– Equal (2): Everything