Welcome to your comprehensive guide on Pips, the latest addition to the New York Times game collection.

Released in August 2025, Pips brings a new perspective to dominoes, offering an enjoyable solo gameplay experience that may become part of your daily gaming habits.

At present, if you find yourself in a bind, the game reveals the complete puzzle, compelling you to move on to the next difficulty level and restart. But fear not, we have your back! Below are some partial answers that will act as clues to assist you in navigating each level of difficulty.

How to engage with Pips

If you’re familiar with dominoes, you will grasp the basic mechanics of Pips. As noted in our earlier hints articles about Pips, the tiles, much like dominoes, are laid out either vertically or horizontally and interconnect with one another. The primary distinction between conventional dominoes and Pips lies in the color-coded rules you need to address. The adjacent tiles don’t necessarily have to correspond.

The rules you need to satisfy are unique to the color-coded areas. For instance, if it specifies a single digit, the total on every side of a tile in that area must equal the stated number. It’s possible – and frequently happens – for just half of a tile to reside within a color-coded area.

Here are standard scenarios you’ll face throughout the various difficulty levels:

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

• Equal: Each domino half in this zone must show the same number of pips.

• Not Equal: Each domino half in this area must display a completely distinct number of pips.

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

• Greater than: Each domino half in this section must total more than the specified number.

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

Hints and answers for Easy difficulty for Dec. 11 Pips

Number (1): Everything in this area must sum to 1. The solution is 5-3,