Welcome to your resource for Pips, the latest entry in the New York Times games lineup.

Introduced in August 2025, Pips presents a novel interpretation of dominoes, providing an engaging single-player experience that could easily become part of your daily gaming routine.

At the moment, if you find yourself in a bind, the game simply lets you unveil the complete puzzle, encouraging you to progress to the next difficulty tier and begin afresh. But there’s no need to fret; we’ve got your back! Below are detailed answers that serve as hints to assist you in maneuvering through each difficulty level.

How to enjoy Pips

If you’re acquainted with dominoes, you’ll grasp the fundamentals of how Pips is played. As highlighted in our earlier hint articles regarding Pips, the tiles, akin to dominoes, can be arranged either vertically or horizontally and connect with one another. The primary distinction between classic dominoes and Pips lies in the color-coded requirements you need to fulfill. The adjacent tiles aren’t necessarily required to match.

The requirements you must satisfy are tailored to the color-coded areas. For example, if a single numeral is indicated, every side of a tile in that area must total the specified number. It’s possible – and typical – for just half of a tile to be located within a color-coded region.

Here are frequent instances you’ll come across throughout the difficulty levels:

• Number: All the pips in this area should total the number.

• Equal: Every domino half in this area must contain the same number of pips.

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

• Less than: Every domino half in this area has to sum to less than the specified number.

• Greater than: Each domino half in this area must accumulate to more than the indicated number.

If a section is devoid of color coding, it signifies there are no stipulations on the parts of dominoes that lie within those areas.

Easy difficulty clues, solutions for Dec. 12 Pips

Number (10): Everything within this area must sum to 10. The