Pips is the newest entry in the New York Times game lineup. Released in August 2025, this novel game provides a fresh take on dominoes, creating an enjoyable single-player experience that could swiftly turn into your daily gaming ritual.

At present, if you hit a dead end, the game reveals the entire puzzle, urging you to progress to the next difficulty setting and restart. But don’t worry! Below are segmented answers that will act as clues to assist you in tackling each difficulty tier.

How to enjoy Pips

If you’ve played dominoes, you’ll grasp the fundamental mechanics of Pips. Similar to dominoes, the tiles can be positioned either vertically or horizontally and connect with one another. The primary distinction between standard dominoes and Pips lies in the color-coded requirements you must fulfill. The adjacent tiles do not necessarily need to be identical.

The requirements you need to satisfy pertain to the color-coded sections. For instance, if a single numeral is provided, every edge of a tile in that section must total the specified number. It’s both possible – and frequent – for only part of a tile to reside within a color-coded section.

Here are typical scenarios you’ll encounter throughout the difficulty levels:

– Number: All the pips within this section must sum to the specified number.
– Equal: Each domino half in this area must have the same number of pips.
– Not Equal: Each domino half in this region must showcase entirely different numbers of pips.
– Less than: Each domino half in this area must amount to less than the given number.
– Greater than: Each domino half in this space must total more than the stated number.

If a section lacks any color coding, it indicates no conditions apply to the pieces of dominoes within those areas.

Easy difficulty hints, answers for Aug. 20

– Number (4): All in this area must sum to 4. The solution is 6-4, arranged vertically.
– Number (0): Everything here must equal 0. The solution is 0-0, aligned horizontally; 0-1, arranged vertically.
– Number (2): All in this section must equal 2. The answer is 5-1, aligned horizontally; 0-1, arranged vertically.

Medium difficulty hints, answers for Aug. 20

– Equal (6): Every domino half in this space must hold 6 pips. The answer is 3-6, positioned horizontally; 2-6, arranged vertically; 6-6, positioned horizontally.
– Number (3): The domino halves in this space must total 3. The answer is 3-6, arranged horizontally.
– Number (2): The domino halves here must equal 2. The answer is 2-6, placed vertically.
– Number (2): The domino halves in this red area must total 2. The answer is 1-1, arranged vertically.
– Equal (3): Each domino half in this space must consist of 3 pips. The solution is 3-3, positioned vertically.

Hard difficulty hints, answers for Aug. 20

– Number (6): The domino halves in this space must total 6. The solution is 6-1, positioned vertically.
– Number (2): The domino halves within this area must sum to 2. The answer is 6-1, positioned vertically; 1-2, arranged vertically.
– Number (4): The domino halves here must total 4. The answer is 3-2, placed horizontally; 2-5, aligned horizontally.
– Equal (4): The halves in this area must be equal to 4. The answer is 6-4, arranged vertically; 4-4, positioned vertically.
– Equal (5): The domino halves in this section must equal 5. The answer is 2-5, placed horizontally; 5-5, positioned horizontally; 5-6, arranged vertically.
– Equal (6): The domino halves within this area must be equal to 6. The answer is 5-6, arranged vertically; 6-6, positioned vertically.

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