Your guide to Pips, the latest entry in the New York Times game series, is here.

Introduced in August 2025, Pips brings a novel spin to dominoes, offering an engaging single-player format that may just become your new favorite daily pastime.

Right now, if you find yourself stuck, the game discloses the entire puzzle, prompting you to move on to a higher difficulty and begin anew. But fret not, we’re here to assist! Below are partial solutions that will act as clues to help you through each difficulty level.

How to play Pips

If you know how to play dominoes, you’ll grasp the basics of Pips easily. As we discussed in our earlier Pips hints articles, the tiles, similar to dominoes, can be arranged vertically or horizontally and connect with each other. The primary distinction between classic dominoes and Pips lies in the color-coded requirements you need to fulfill. The adjacent tiles do not need to correspond.

The requirements you need to satisfy are unique to the color-coded sections. For example, if a single number is indicated, all sides of a tile in that section must sum to that number. It’s possible — and often the case — for only part of a tile to fit within a color-coded area.

Here are common scenarios you’ll find throughout the difficulty levels:

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

• Equal: Each domino half in this section must contain the same number of pips.

• Not Equal: Each domino half in this section must have a distinct number of pips.

• Less than: Each domino half in this section must total less than the number.

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

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

Easy difficulty hints, answers for Nov. 13 Pips

Number (3): Everything in this section must sum to 3. The solution is 3-5, arranged horizontally.