Welcome to your resource for Pips, the newest game featured in the New York Times lineup. Launched in August 2025, Pips takes a fresh approach to dominoes, delivering an enjoyable solo gaming experience that might just become your next daily pastime. At this moment, if you find yourself at a standstill, the game solely provides the option to disclose the entire puzzle, compelling you to advance to the next level of difficulty and restart. Nevertheless, we’ve got your back! Below you’ll find incremental answers that will act as clues to help you navigate each difficulty tier.

How to play Pips

If you have ever engaged with dominoes, you will have a basic understanding of how Pips is played. As we have mentioned in our earlier hints articles for Pips, the tiles, similar to dominoes, can be arranged vertically or horizontally and link up with one another. The primary distinction between a classic game of dominoes and Pips lies in the color-coded requirements that you must fulfill. The adjacent tiles do not necessarily need to correspond.

The requirements you must satisfy are particular to the color-coded areas. For instance, if it indicates a solitary number, all sides of a tile in that area must sum up to the number specified. It is feasible – and typical – for only a portion of a tile to reside within a color-coded area.

Here are typical examples you will encounter across the difficulty tiers:

– Number: All the pips in this section must total the specified number.
– Equal: Every half domino in this area must have the same count of pips.
– Not Equal: Every half domino in this area must possess entirely different pips counts.
– Less than: Every half domino in this section must total less than the specified number.
– Greater than: Every half domino in this section must total more than the specified number.

If an area lacks any color coding, it indicates that there are no constraints on the sections of dominoes within those areas.

Easy difficulty hints, answers for Dec. 23 Pips

Number (2): Everything in this purple area must total 2. The response is 2-3, positioned vertically.

Number (2): Everything in this red area must total 2. The response is 2-1, positioned vertically.

Number (8): Everything in this section must total 8. The response is 2-3, positioned vertically; 5-1, positioned vertically.

Number (12): Everything in this section must total 12. The response is 1-6, positioned horizontally; 6-4, positioned horizontally.

Number (8): Everything in this section must total 8. The response is 6-4, positioned horizontally; 5-4, positioned vertically.

Medium difficulty hints, answers for Dec. 23 Pips

Number (3): Everything in this purple area must total 3. The response is 3-6, positioned horizontally.

Equal (6): Everything in this red area must equal 6. The response is 3-6, positioned horizontally; 6-0, positioned vertically; 6-6, positioned horizontally.

Equal (4): Everything in this light blue area must equal 4. The response is 4-3, positioned horizontally; 4-1, positioned vertically.

Less Than (2): Everything in this section must be less than 2. The response is 6-0, positioned vertically.

Equal (2): Everything in this dark blue area must equal 2. The response is 2-2, positioned vertically.

Less Than (4): Everything in this section must be less than 4. The response is 5-2, positioned vertically.

Less Than (2): Everything in this section must be less than 2. The response is 4-1, positioned vertically.

Number (5): Everything in this section must total 5. The response is 5-3, positioned horizontally.

Greater Than (2): Everything in this section must be greater than 2. The response is 5-3, positioned horizontally.

Hard difficulty hints, answers for Dec. 23 Pips

Number (10): Everything in this section must total 10. The response is 5-4, positioned horizontally; 3-5, positioned horizontally.

Equal (4): Everything in this red area must equal 4. The response is 5-4, positioned horizontally; 4-0, positioned horizontally; 1-4, positioned horizontally.

Number (0): Everything in this section must total 0. The response is 4-0, positioned horizontally.

Number (3): Everything in this section must total 3. The response is 3-2, positioned vertically.

Number (6): Everything in this section must total 6. The response is 3