Welcome to your Tuesday guide for Pips, the latest entry in the New York Times gaming series.
Released in August 2025, Pips presents a novel spin on dominoes, delivering an enjoyable solo gaming experience that may become part of your daily habits.
At present, if you find yourself at an impasse, the game will display the entire puzzle, encouraging you to move on to the next level and start over. But don’t fret, we’ve got the assistance you need! Below are clues to guide you through each difficulty tier.
How to engage with Pips
If you have a grasp of dominoes, you’ll quickly understand how Pips operates. As highlighted in our earlier Pips hint articles, the tiles, similar to dominoes, can be placed either vertically or horizontally and must connect to one another. The primary distinction from conventional dominoes lies in the color-coded requirements you must fulfill. The adjacent tiles aren’t required to match.
The requirements you need to fulfill pertain specifically to the color-coded areas. For example, if a single digit is shown, all sides of a tile in that area should total the specified number. It’s common for only part of a tile to fall within a color-coded section.
Here are standard instances you’ll come across across different difficulty levels:
Number: All pips within this area must sum up to the specified number.
Equal: Every domino half in this space must contain the same number of pips.
Not Equal: Every domino half in this section must have a distinct number of pips.
Less than: Every domino half in this area must total less than the specified number.
Greater than: Every domino half in this segment must total more than the indicated number.
If an area has no color coding, it indicates there are no restrictions on the domino segments within those zones.
Easy difficulty tips, solutions for Oct. 21 Pips
Less Than (5): Everything in this orange zone must be below 5. The solution is 4-1 placed vertically; 0-0 placed horizontally.
Number (6): Everything in this space must total 6. The solution is 4-1 placed vertically; 5-0 placed horizontally.
Number (5): Everything in this area must total 5. The solution is 0-0 placed horizontally; 2-3 placed vertically; 5-0 placed horizontally.
Medium difficulty tips, solutions for Oct. 21 Pips
Less Than (5): Everything in this area must be below 5. The solution is 4-5 placed horizontally.
Equal (2): Everything in this light blue segment must be equal to 2. The solution is 0-2 placed vertically; 2-2 placed vertically; 2-6 placed vertically.
Number (30): Everything in this area must total 30. The solution is 2-6 placed vertically; 6-6 placed horizontally; 6-4 placed horizontally; 6-5 placed horizontally.
Equal (4): Everything in this purple area must equal 4. The solution is 6-4 placed horizontally; 0-4 placed vertically.
Equal (0): Everything in this dark blue section must equal 0. The solution is 3-0 placed vertically; 0-4 placed vertically.
Equal (3): Everything in this orange zone must equal 3. The solution is 3-0 placed vertically; 1-3 placed vertically.
Equal (1): Everything in this red area must equal