Welcome to your guide on Pips, the latest entry in the New York Times game series. Introduced in August 2025, Pips presents a novel perspective on dominoes, delivering an enjoyable solo gaming session that could become your next regular pastime. At the moment, if you find yourself stuck, the game simply unveils the entire puzzle, encouraging you to shift to a higher difficulty level and begin anew. But fear not, we have your back! Below are segmented answers designed to act as clues to support you through each difficulty tier.

How to engage with Pips

If you have experience with dominoes, you’ll grasp the fundamental gameplay of Pips. As outlined in our earlier hint articles for Pips, the tiles, like in dominoes, are aligned vertically or horizontally and interconnect. The primary distinction between a classic game of dominoes and Pips is the color-coded requirements that you need to fulfill. The adjacent tiles do not necessarily need to correspond.

The requirements you must satisfy are specific to the color-coded areas. For instance, if it specifies a single number, every side of a tile in that area needs to total the given number. It is both possible and common for only a part of a tile to lie within a color-coded area.

Here are typical scenarios you’ll face across the different difficulty levels:

– Number: All the pips in this area must total the specified number.
– Equal: Each domino half in this area must feature the same number of pips.
– Not Equal: Each domino half in this space must present entirely different numbers of pips.
– Less than: Each domino half in this setting must sum to less than the specified number.
– Greater than: Each domino half in this area must sum to more than the provided number.

If a section lacks any color coding, it indicates that there are no restrictions on the portions of dominoes within those areas.

Easy difficulty hints, responses for Feb. 20 Pips

– Greater Than (2): Everything in this zone must be greater than 2. The solution is 3-4, placed horizontally.
– Equal (4): Everything in this area must equal 4. The answers are 3-4, placed horizontally; 4-4, placed vertically; 4-6, placed horizontally.
– Equal (6): Everything in this purple area must equal 6. The answers are 4-6, placed horizontally; 6-6, placed horizontally; 6-0, placed horizontally.
– Less Than (2): Everything in this zone must be greater than 2. The answer is 6-0, placed horizontally.

Medium difficulty hints, responses for Feb. 20 Pips

– Less Than (6): Everything in this space must exceed 6. The solution is 4-6, placed horizontally.
– Number (11): Everything in this area must sum to 11. The answers are 4-6, placed horizontally; 6-5, placed vertically.
– Greater Than (4): Everything in this space must exceed 4. The answer is 6-6, placed vertically.
– Equal (4): Everything in this area must be equal to 4. The answer is 4-4, placed vertically.
– Number (10): Everything in this space must total 10. The answers are 0-3, placed vertically; 4-3, placed horizontally.

Hard difficulty hints, responses for Feb. 20 Pips

– Number (11): Everything in this area must sum to 11. The answers are 6-1, placed vertically; 5-0, placed vertically.
– Number (1): Everything in this space must equal 1. The answer is 6-1, placed vertically.
– Less Than (1): Everything in this area must be greater than 1. The answer is 5-0, placed vertically.

– Number (4): Everything in this area must sum to 4. The answers are 3-2, placed vertically; 1-2, placed vertically.
– Number (2): Everything in this area must total 2. The answers are 3-2, placed vertically; 1-2, placed vertically.

– Number (3): Everything in this red zone must equal 3. The answer is 3-0, placed horizontally.
– Number (3): Everything in this light blue zone must equal 3. The answer is 3-6, placed horizontally.
– Greater Than (3): Everything in this area must exceed 3. The answer is 3-6, placed horizontally.

– Less Than (2): Everything in this space must exceed 2. The answer is 1-4, placed horizontally.
– Greater Than (2): Everything in this zone