How to play Pips
- You get a shaped board and a rack of dominoes. Place every domino; each half covers one cell.
- Cells are grouped into colored regions. Each region shows a rule:
- a number: the pips in that region add up to it
- =: all pips in the region are the same
- ≠: all pips in the region are different
- <N / >N: the pips add up to less than / more than N
- no label: anything goes
- A domino may straddle two regions. The board is solved when it's full and every rule is green.
- Tap a domino to rotate it a quarter turn. Drag it onto the board; the highlighted cells show where it will land. Tap a placed domino to turn it in place; drag it off the board to send it back to the rack.
Stuck? Hint shows one step. Reveal shows the whole answer.
A worked example
This example has 12 cells and six dominoes to place: 3–6, 1–4, 4–4, 5–5, 0–1, 0–6. In each coloured region, ≠ means all its cells differ, a number is the total of its cells and a plain region has no rule.
Start with the one-cell region at row 4, column 4: its total is 6, so that cell must show 6.
Each placed domino uses up two numbers from the rack, so the remaining regions have fewer ways to reach their totals. The board on the right is the only arrangement that satisfies every rule.
Difficulty levels
| Level | Board |
|---|---|
| Easy | 6 dominoes (12 squares) inside a 4×4 area, regions up to 3 cells |
| Medium | 9 dominoes (18 squares) inside a 5×5 area, regions up to 4 cells |
| Hard | 11 dominoes (22 squares) inside a 6×6 area, regions up to 5 cells |
Today's NYT Pips answers
The New York Times publishes three Pips boards a day. Our answer page for November 7 has all three (easy, medium and hard), each with hints first and the full solution below.
Pips tips
- A one-cell region with a number fixes that cell's pips, though not yet which domino goes there.
- An "=" region of three cells needs three matching pips, so check which dominoes can even supply them.
- Two cells that total 12 both show a 6. In two cells, a total of 0, 1, 11 or 12 leaves only one pair of values.
- Count parity: if a region needs an odd sum from two cells, the two halves have different parity.
More on the blog
Pips FAQ
Is this the NYT Pips game?
It uses the same rule types, with our own boards. The New York Times publishes three Pips a day; here you get a daily puzzle plus unlimited practice.
Does every puzzle have exactly one solution?
Yes. Every board here has exactly one solution. (Some official puzzles have many solutions; ours never do.)