Welcome to your guide on Pips, the latest entry in the New York Times games lineup.

Introduced in August 2025, Pips presents an innovative take on dominoes, offering an enjoyable solo gaming experience that could turn into your new daily activity.

At present, if you get stuck, the game permits you to uncover the entire puzzle, compelling you to move on to the next difficulty tier and restart from scratch. But fear not, we have your back! Below you will find detailed answers that serve as tips to assist you in maneuvering through each difficulty level.

How to play Pips

If you are familiar with dominoes, you’ll grasp the fundamental mechanics of Pips. As highlighted in our earlier Pips hint articles, the tiles, akin to dominoes, are arranged either vertically or horizontally and link together. The main distinction between classic dominoes and Pips lies in the color-coded requirements you need to fulfill. The adjacent tiles do not necessarily need to correspond.

The requirements you need to meet pertain specifically to the color-coded areas. For example, if it specifies a single number, every edge of a tile in that area must sum to the indicated number. It is achievable – and frequent – for only a portion of a tile to lie within a color-coded area.

Here are typical examples you will face across the difficulty levels:

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

• Equal: Each domino half in this region must possess the same pip count.

• Not Equal: Each domino half in this area must contain a completely distinct pip count.

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

• Greater than: Each domino half in this space must sum to more than the specified number.

If a section lacks color coding, it indicates that there are no requirements on the domino portions located in those areas.

Easy difficulty hints, answers for Nov. 12 Pips

Number (3): Everything in this region must total to 3. The