Welcome to your comprehensive guide to Pips, the newest game in the New York Times collection.

Launched in August 2025, Pips presents an innovative approach to dominoes, delivering an enjoyable single-player experience that could transform into your new daily gaming ritual.

As it stands, if you find yourself at a standstill, the game permits you to unveil the complete puzzle, prompting you to advance to the next level of difficulty and restart. But don’t worry! Below are step-by-step answers that will act as clues to assist you through each level of difficulty.

How to play Pips

<pIf you've ever engaged with dominoes, you’ll grasp the fundamental principles of how Pips is played. As noted in our previous hints articles for Pips, the tiles, much like dominoes, are arranged either vertically or horizontally and interconnect. The primary distinction between a conventional game of dominoes and Pips is the color-coded requirements that you need to fulfill. The adjacent tiles do not necessarily have to correspond.

The requirements you must satisfy are tied to the color-coded areas. For instance, if it shows a single numeral, every side of a tile in that area must sum to the indicated number. It’s feasible – and typical – for just half of a tile to be located within a color-coded area.

Here are typical instances you will face throughout the various difficulty levels:

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

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

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

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

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

If a section lacks any color coding, it signifies that there are no specific requirements for the portions of dominoes within those areas.

Easy difficulty hints, solutions for Nov. 1 Pips

Equal (3): Every element in this area must be equal to