Friday brings a fresh set of NYT Pips puzzles. This week's Friday lineup delivers a consistent challenge across all three difficulty tiers, with the same zone layout scaling up in complexity. Expect tight constraints on the teal (=) zones and a heavy reliance on exact-number purple and orange sections that demand careful domino placement.
How to Play Pips
Pips is a domino placement puzzle where you fill a grid of color-coded zones. Each zone has a condition you must satisfy using the pip values on your dominoes. The twist: you must use every domino and meet every condition to win.
Zone Conditions:
- = All pips in this zone must equal the same number
- Not Equal All pips must be different numbers
- > Pips must be greater than the listed number
- < Pips must be less than the listed number
- Exact Number Pips must total that exact value
- No Color Free space, any domino value works
Click or tap dominoes to rotate them. Each puzzle has one or more valid solutions.
Today's Easy Pips
Today's Medium Pips
Today's Hard Pips
Quick Hints (No Spoilers)
Starting Point: The teal (=) zone is the critical anchor. Lock in a 0 there first, then build outward through the exact-number zones.
Key Insight: The purple (=) zone at the bottom right must end with all pips at the same value. The 4/4 double domino is your finishing piece here. Work backward from that constraint.
Watch Out For: There are two separate orange (10) zones and two separate teal zones (one equal, one exact 12, one exact 5). It is easy to confuse which zone is which. Double-check each domino's zone assignment before locking it in.
Step-by-Step Walkthrough
- 1.Place the 4/0 domino vertically with the 4 in the uncolored zone and the 0 in the teal (=) zone. This is your foundation move. The teal equal zone now requires all remaining pips in that zone to be 0. Every subsequent placement that touches teal (=) must use a 0.
- 2.Place the 0/6 domino horizontally, spanning teal (=) and green (12). The 0 satisfies teal's equal condition. The 6 lands in green, which needs an exact total of 12. You will need another 6 in green to hit that target.
- 3.Place the 6/5 domino horizontally across green (12) and orange (10). The 6 completes green at 6+6=12. The 5 lands in orange, which requires an exact total of 10. You need another 5 in this orange zone.
- 4.Place the 3/5 domino vertically in purple (3) and orange (10). The 3 satisfies purple's exact requirement. The 5 brings orange to 5+5=10, completing it.
- 5.Place the 2/2 domino horizontally in the uncolored zone. No conditions, free placement.
- 6.Place the 4/5 domino vertically in the uncolored zone and pink (7). The 5 contributes to pink's exact total of 7. You need 2 more in pink.
- 7.Place the 2/0 domino horizontally in pink (7) and navy (=). The 2 completes pink at 5+2=7. The 0 enters navy, which requires all pips equal. Navy's equal value is now set to 0.
- 8.Place the 0/1 domino vertically in navy (=) and purple (2). The 0 matches navy's equal condition. The 1 lands in purple, which needs an exact total of 2. You need one more 1 in purple.
- 9.Place the 1/5 domino vertically in purple (2) and green (5). The 1 completes purple at 1+1=2. The 5 satisfies green's exact requirement of 5.
- 10.Place the 1/3 domino horizontally in orange (1) and navy (3). The 1 satisfies orange's exact requirement. The 3 enters navy's equal zone. Wait -- navy's equal value is 0, so 3 breaks that condition. This placement works because this is a different navy zone. Track color zones carefully: the puzzle has multiple navy sections.
- 11.Place the 3/2 domino horizontally in pink (6) and teal (5). The 3 contributes to pink's exact 6. The 2 lands in teal's exact 5 zone. You need 3 more in this teal zone.
- 12.Place the 3/4 domino vertically in teal (5) and purple (=). The 3 completes teal's exact 5 at 2+3=5. The 4 enters the purple equal zone, setting its equal value to 4.
- 13.Place the 3/6 domino vertically in pink (6) and teal (12). The 3 completes pink at 3+3=6. The 6 contributes to teal's exact 12. You need another 6 in this teal zone.
- 14.Place the 6/4 domino horizontally in teal (12) and purple (=). The 6 completes teal's exact 12 at 6+6=12. The 4 matches purple's equal condition of 4.
- 15.Place the 5/5 domino vertically in the second orange (10) zone. Both 5s sum to 10, satisfying the exact requirement cleanly.
- 16.Place the 4/4 domino vertically in the purple (=) zone. Both 4s match the existing 4s, satisfying the equal condition. Puzzle complete.
Hard Pips Solution
Last chance to solve independently
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- 1.Place the 4/0 domino vertically in the uncolored zone and teal (=) zone
- 2.Place the 0/6 domino horizontally in the teal (=) zone and green (12) zone
- 3.Place the 6/5 domino horizontally in the green (12) zone and orange (10) zone
- 4.Place the 3/5 domino vertically in the purple (3) zone and orange (10) zone
- 5.Place the 2/2 domino horizontally in the uncolored zone
- 6.Place the 4/5 domino vertically in the uncolored zone and pink (7) zone
- 7.Place the 2/0 domino horizontally in the pink (7) zone and navy (=) zone
- 8.Place the 0/1 domino vertically in the navy (=) zone and purple (2) zone
- 9.Place the 1/5 domino vertically in the purple (2) zone and green (5) zone
- 10.Place the 1/3 domino horizontally in the orange (1) zone and navy (3) zone
- 11.Place the 3/2 domino horizontally in the pink (6) zone and teal (5) zone
- 12.Place the 3/4 domino vertically in the teal (5) zone and purple (=) zone
- 13.Place the 3/6 domino vertically in the pink (6) zone and teal (12) zone
- 14.Place the 6/4 domino horizontally in the teal (12) zone and purple (=) zone
- 15.Place the 5/5 domino vertically in the orange (10) zone
- 16.Place the 4/4 domino vertically in the purple (=) zone
Puzzle Debrief
Overall Difficulty: Moderate challenge. The zone layout is consistent across all three tiers, so solving Easy gives you a strong foundation for Medium and Hard. The real challenge is managing multiple zones with the same color but different conditions.
Trickiest Puzzle: Hard - The duplicate zone colors (two oranges, multiple teals, two navies) create confusion. Losing track of which zone has which condition is the most common failure point. The teal (=) zone anchoring to 0 early is counterintuitive for players who expect higher pip values.
Our Take: This is a well-designed Friday set. The zone layout rewards systematic thinking over brute force. Starting with the equal-condition zones and working outward through exact-number zones is the winning strategy. The 4/4 and 5/5 doubles serve as perfect bookends for the purple and orange zones respectively. Solid puzzle design from the NYT team.
Tomorrow's Pips drops at midnight. See you then.
