Welcome to your resource for Pips, the latest entry in the New York Times gaming collection.

Introduced in August 2025, Pips brings a novel approach to dominoes, offering an immersive single-player experience that could easily become part of your daily gaming habit.

At present, if you find yourself stuck, the game reveals the entire puzzle, encouraging you to proceed to the next difficulty level and begin again. But fear not, we’re here to assist! Below, you’ll find partial answers that act as hints to help you through each level of difficulty.

How to play Pips

If you have experience with dominoes, you’ll grasp the fundamentals of how Pips operates. As previously noted in our Pips hint articles, the tiles, much like dominoes, can be positioned vertically or horizontally and can connect with one another. The primary distinction between classic dominoes and Pips lies in the color-coded criteria that must be fulfilled. The adjacent tiles don’t necessarily need to correspond.

The conditions you need to satisfy are tied to the color-coded sections. For example, if a single number is specified, every side of a tile in that section must sum to the indicated number. It’s common – and indeed possible – for only a portion of a tile to fit within a color-coded space.

Here are standard examples you will come across throughout the various difficulty levels:

• Number: All the pips in this area must total to the number.

• Equal: Every domino half in this area must feature the same number of pips.

• Not Equal: Each domino half in this area must display a different number of pips.

• Less than: Every domino half in this area must sum to less than the specified number.

• Greater than: All domino halves in this area must sum to more than the specified number.

If a region lacks color coding, it indicates that there are no requirements for the domino parts within those areas.

Easy difficulty hints, solutions for Nov. 10 Pips

Number (5): Everything within this area must total to 5. The solution is 5-6, positioned vertically.