Need some help with the NYT Pips today? Unlike the other NYT Games, Pips is one of the few that focuses on numbers and logical placement. No worries, though, we've got you covered.
Below, we've compiled hints and solutions for the Easy and Medium puzzles, along with a comprehensive guide for the Hard Pips. You can play along here.
Spoilers below for the January 16 Pips. Only read if you want the solutions for today's Pips puzzles.
Alternatively, for more word-based puzzling, check out our guides for tips and solutions to Connections, Strands and Wordle.
Pips tips — how to play Pips
Pips is a domino placement game featuring a grid of multicolored boxes that gets more complicated and larger as you go up in difficulty. Each colored zone represents a condition you have to meet.
You select dominoes and place dominoes into the grid to meet those conditions. You must use every domino to achieve each condition and win the game. Clicking or tapping on the dominoes rotates them so you can position the tiles.
In the above example from a medium puzzle, there are four colored zones. Your placed dominoes must total 12 in the purple zone. In the teal and orange sectors, the number of domino pips must be greater than 3.
In the hard mode, the zones and symbols get more complicated. For example, you could see a crossed-out equal sign, meaning that the three squares you place must be different numbers.
Here are the various symbols you might see:
- = All pips must be the same in this group
- ≠ All pips must not be the same number in this group
- > The pips in the tile must be greater than the listed number
- < The pips in this tile must be less than the listed number
- A number [like 12], the pips must equal that exact number
- Tiles with no color can be anything; think of this as a free space
To win a game of Pips, you must fulfill every condition and fill every square. In some puzzles, there is only one correct solution. In others, usually the harder ones, there can be multiple solutions.
Today's Pips answers — hints to help you solve it
Below are the solutions for the Easy and Medium-level Pips. After that, you can find a fuller walkthrough for the Hard level. Spoilers below.
Today's Easy Pips solution
Today's Medium Pips solution
Today's Hard Pips walkthrough and solution
I know they're not, but I spent today calling the puzzle big Z and little Z. It's a little tricky, but mostly surrounding where to build some 5s and the number 10.
Fortunately, there's a great starting spot, the teal 24 zone at the top of big Z. The 6/1 can immediately go in the pink 1 square. That leaves the 6/6 double to go horizontal. And we wrap it up with the 6/4 going into the purple 10 area because you can't have it going down.
I messed up my first go around with the 4/2 in the 10 zone, but when I crashed the puzzle, I swapped that tile for the 3/3 double. That opened up the rest of the puzzle to the correct placements. That initial mistake is what got me in the bottom when I was trying to put the two 5 zones together.
Below the 6s, we can use the 4/1 for the orange = zone and the dark blue 1 square. The 4/4 double goes next to that.
5/4 is next going into the purple 20 reversed L. Below that is the 5/5 double and the 4/2 to close out the orange zone and start the teal 5 zone.
The 5/0 closes out the purple 20 and starts the pink 0 zone. Which leaves the 0/3 for the last pink square and part of the orange 5. The 5s can be closed out by the 2/3 domino.
Finally, throw the 2/5, 3/1, and 0/4 in the green little Z however you want.
Here's how it looks:
Hard Pips solution
