NYT Provides Hints and Answers for January 9, 2026

Welcome to your resource for Pips, the newest addition to the New York Times game collection.

Launched in August 2025, Pips delivers an innovative take on dominoes, providing an entertaining single-player game that might just become part of your daily gaming routine.

At present, if you find yourself stuck, the game permits you to unveil the complete puzzle only, pushing you to advance to the next level of difficulty and restart. Nevertheless, we’re here to assist! Below are segmented answers that will act as tips to guide you through each difficulty stage.

How to engage with Pips

If you’re familiar with dominoes, you’ll grasp the basic mechanics of Pips. As highlighted in our earlier hints articles regarding Pips, the tiles, similar to dominoes, can be positioned vertically or horizontally, connecting with one another. The primary distinction between a conventional domino game and Pips lies in the color-coded conditions you need to fulfill. The touching tiles do not necessarily need to match each other.

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The requirements you must satisfy are unique to the color-coded areas. For instance, if it presents a single digit, every side of a tile in that area must total the number indicated. It is feasible – and typical – for only part of a tile to fall within a color-coded region.

Below are typical examples you’ll face throughout the different difficulty levels:

  • Number: All the pips in this area need to sum to the specified number.

  • Equal: Each domino half within this space should feature the same quantity of pips.

  • Not Equal: Each domino half in this area must showcase entirely different amounts of pips.

  • Less than: Each domino half in this region must total less than the given number.

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

If an area lacks any color coding, it indicates that no requirements apply to the sections of dominoes within those regions.

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Simple difficulty tips, solutions for Jan. 9 Pips

Number (3): Everything contained in this area must total