The game NYT Pips, which appeared in The New York Times games catalogue in August 2025, offers a single-player puzzle based on domino principles. Players often find that the built-in hint only reveals the full solution and forces them to move on to a different difficulty level. Below you will find an explanation of the rules and step-by-step hints with answers for the Easy, Medium and Hard levels for 13 August 2026. The material is based on data from Mashable.
In Pips, as in classic dominoes, tiles are placed vertically or horizontally so that they touch one another. However, the main difference lies in the coloured zones with conditions. Touching halves of tiles do not always have to match in the number of pips; what matters is meeting the condition set by the colour of the square.
If a square is highlighted in colour and contains a number or symbol, all tile halves that fall within this zone must comply with the specified rule. Quite often only one half of a domino tile enters a coloured area, and in that case only that half is taken into account.
The main types of conditions in the game are as follows:
- Number — the total number of pips in the zone must equal the stated number.
- Equal — all domino halves in the zone must have the same number of pips.
- Not Equal — all halves in the zone must differ in the number of pips.
- Less than — each half in the zone must have a value lower than the stated number.
- Greater than — each half in the zone must have a value higher than the stated number.
If an area of the board has no coloured marking, there are no additional conditions for the tiles in that part.
Easy level — hints and answers for 12 August
- Less Than (2): all values in the zone must be less than 2. Solution — the 0–0 tile placed horizontally.
- Less Than (2): again the “less than 2” condition. Answer — the 0–6 tile placed vertically (the half with 0 falls into the zone).
- Equal (6): all halves in the coloured area must be 6. Solution — the 0–6 tile placed vertically and the 6–3 tile placed horizontally (the halves with 6 fall into the zone).
- Equal (1): each half in the zone must show 1. Answer — the 5–1 tile placed vertically and the 1–1 tile placed horizontally (the “ones” fall into the zone).
Medium level — hints and answers for 12 August
- Equal (2): all halves must have a value of 2. Solution — the 1–2 and 0–2 tiles, both placed horizontally (the halves with 2 enter the zone).
- Equal (0): only zeros are allowed in the coloured zone. Answer — the 0–2 and 0–3 tiles, both horizontal (the condition is met by the halves with 0).
- Number (7): the total number of pips in the zone must equal 7. Solution — the 0–3 tile placed horizontally and the 4–5 tile, also horizontally (the relevant halves that fall into the zone add up to 7).
- Number (10): you need a total of 10. One combination is the 3–3 tile vertically and the 4–4 tile horizontally.
- Number (10): another option for the same total is the 6–6 tile vertically and the 4–4 tile horizontally (the sum of the halves in the relevant zone is 10).
Hard level — hints and answers for 12 August
- Greater Than (3): all halves in the zone must be greater than 3. Answer — the 4–6 tile placed horizontally.
- Number (15): you need a total of 15. Solution — the 4–6 tile horizontally, the 5–2 tile vertically and the 4–2 tile horizontally (the relevant halves of these tiles are counted in the coloured zone).
- Less Than (3): all values must be less than 3. The stated answer is the 4–2 tile placed horizontally (the half with 2 falls into the zone).
- Less Than (3): another area with the “less than 3” condition. Solution — the 5–2 tile placed vertically and the 0–6 tile, also vertically (the halves with values 2 and 0 fall into the zone).
- Number (6): the total must be 6. Answer — the 0–6 tile vertically and the 6–1 tile vertically (the selected halves add up to 6).
- Less Than (3): once again the values must be below 3. Here the 6–1 tile is used, placed vertically (the half with 1 falls into the zone).
- Number (15): you need a total of 15. Solution — the 6–6 tile vertically and the 1–3 tile horizontally (the relevant halves add up to 15).
- Less Than (3): all halves in the area must be less than 3. The stated solution is the 1–3 tile placed horizontally (the half with 1 falls into the zone).
- Number (3): the total must be 3. Solution — the 6–3 tile placed vertically (the half with 3 is counted in the coloured area).
- Number (15): another zone requiring a total of 15. Answer — the 5–4 tile vertically and the 6–3 tile vertically.
- Number (5), purple zone: the total is 5. Solution — the 2–3 tile placed vertically.
- Number (5), dark blue zone: again you need 5. The tile given is 5–3, placed vertically (the required half falls into the zone).
- Number (5), light blue zone: a total of 5. Solution — the 5–3 tile vertically and the 2–2 tile horizontally.
- Number (5), orange zone: you need a total of 5. Answer — the 2–2 tile placed horizontally and the 3–0 tile placed vertically.
For fans of puzzles such as Wordle, Strands or Sudoku, Mashable also reminds readers that other online games are available in its games section — from mahjong to crosswords.