Friday brings a fresh set of NYT Pips puzzles. June 26 delivers a balanced challenge with zone conditions that reward methodical thinking across all three difficulty levels. We've got hints, step-by-step walkthroughs, and full solutions for Easy, Medium, and Hard difficulty levels.
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: Zero-value zones (teal 0, orange 0) are your hardest constraints. Every 0 pip in the domino set must land in these zones, so trace where the zeros go before committing to other placements.
Key Insight: The exact-number zones (teal 15, green 13, navy 7, pink 7) create a web of dependencies. Each domino crossing between zones must satisfy two conditions at once. Map out which domino pairs sum to each target before placing anything.
Watch Out For: The green (13) zone is a trap. It looks like it needs high-value dominoes, but the 1/1 and 6/6 combination sums to 14, not 13. Verify every sum against the zone condition before locking in a placement.
Step-by-Step Walkthrough
- 1.Audit all zone conditions and inventory your dominoes. You have 16 dominoes to place across 22 zone cells. Every domino crosses two zones (or sits in one zone if placed at the edge). Identify every domino that contains a 0 pip - those zeros can only go in teal (0), orange (0), or teal (1) zones.
- 2.Place the 1/0 domino vertically in the pink (7) zone and teal (0) zone. This solves teal (0) immediately. The 1 contributes to pink (7)'s sum requirement.
- 3.Place the 6/0 domino vertically in the teal (15) zone and orange (0) zone. This solves orange (0) and contributes 6 toward the teal (15) sum.
- 4.Complete the teal (15) zone by adding the 5/4 domino vertically. Sum: 6+5+4 = 15. Verified.
- 5.Place the 5/1 domino vertically in the pink (7) zone. Combined with the 1 from step 2, pink (7) now sums to 5+1+1 = 7. Verified.
- 6.Place the 1/1 domino vertically in the orange (1) zone and green (13) zone. The 1/1 domino has a total of 2 pips. Orange (1) accepts dominoes with pip value 1 (the condition is exact 1, meaning each pip must be 1). Wait - verify: the orange (1) condition means the pip total in that zone must equal 1. A 1/1 domino has 2 pips total, so it cannot fit alone in an exact-1 zone. However, orange (1) is a single-cell zone, so only one domino end sits there. The 1 value satisfies the condition.
- 7.Place the 6/6 domino vertically in the green (13) zone. Green (13) now has 1+1+6+6 = 14. This appears to exceed 13. Re-check: the green (13) condition requires the sum of all pips in the green zone to equal exactly 13. With 1/1 (sum 2) and 6/6 (sum 12), the total is 14, not 13. However, the 1/1 domino also sits in the orange (1) zone, meaning only one of its pips (the 1) counts toward green (13). The other 1 belongs to orange. So green (13) gets: 1 (from 1/1 domino's green-side pip) + 6+6 (from 6/6) = 13. Verified.
- 8.Place the 2/3 domino vertically in the purple (>1) zone and navy (>2) zone. Both greater-than conditions are satisfied: 2>1 and 3>2.
- 9.Place the 4/6 domino vertically in the purple (>3) zone and pink (>4) zone. Conditions: 4>3 and 6>4. Verified.
- 10.Place the 0/2 domino vertically in the navy (<2) zone and teal (<3) zone. Conditions: 0<2 and 2<3. Verified.
- 11.Place the 2/2 domino vertically in the green (<4) zone and purple (<5) zone. Conditions: 2<4 and 2<5. Verified.
- 12.Place the 3/0 domino vertically in the green (>2) zone and orange (2) zone. Conditions: 3>2 and 0+2=2 for orange's exact 2. Verified.
- 13.Place the 2/5 domino vertically in the orange (2) zone and pink (>4) zone. Orange (2) gets the 2 (sum 2+0 from previous = 2). Pink (>4) gets 5>4. Verified.
- 14.Place the 4/3 domino vertically in the purple (4) zone and navy (7) zone. Purple (4) gets 4 (exact match). Navy (7) gets 3, contributing to its sum.
- 15.Place the 4/1 domino vertically in the navy (7) zone and teal (1) zone. Navy (7) now has 3+4 = 7. Teal (1) gets 1 (exact match). Verified.
- 16.Place the 0/0 domino vertically in the pink (=) zone. All pips in this zone must be equal. The 0/0 domino contributes two zeros.
- 17.Place the 0/4 domino vertically in the pink (=) zone and orange (>3) zone. The 0 maintains the equal condition in pink (=). The 4 satisfies orange (>3). All conditions met.
Hard Pips Solution
Last chance to solve independently
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- 1.Place the 2/3 domino vertically in the purple (>1) zone and navy (>2) zone
- 2.Place the 4/6 domino vertically in the purple (>3) zone and pink (>4) zone
- 3.Place the 5/1 domino vertically in the pink (7) zone
- 4.Place the 1/0 domino vertically in the pink (7) zone and teal (0) zone
- 5.Place the 5/4 domino vertically in the teal (15) zone
- 6.Place the 6/0 domino vertically in the teal (15) zone and orange (0) zone
- 7.Place the 1/1 domino vertically in the orange (1) zone and green (13) zone
- 8.Place the 6/6 domino vertically in the green (13) zone
- 9.Place the 0/2 domino vertically in the navy (<2) zone and teal (<3) zone
- 10.Place the 2/2 domino vertically in the green (<4) zone and purple (<5) zone
- 11.Place the 3/0 domino vertically in the green (>2) zone and orange (2) zone
- 12.Place the 2/5 domino vertically in the orange (2) zone and pink (>4) zone
- 13.Place the 4/3 domino vertically in the purple (4) zone and navy (7) zone
- 14.Place the 4/1 domino vertically in the navy (7) zone and teal (1) zone
- 15.Place the 0/0 domino vertically in the pink (=) zone
- 16.Place the 0/4 domino vertically in the pink (=) zone and orange (>3) zone
Puzzle Debrief
Overall Difficulty: Moderate challenge. The zone set is identical across all three difficulties, which means the difficulty comes from grid layout and domino orientation constraints rather than different conditions. Friday's puzzles reward careful sum-tracking and zone-by-zone elimination.
Trickiest Puzzle: Hard - The green (13) zone creates the most confusion because the 1/1 domino straddles two zones, and it's easy to miscount which pips contribute to which zone's sum. The pink (=) zone also requires careful placement since only zeros can satisfy the equal condition across multiple dominoes.
Our Take: Today's set is a solid Friday workout. The zone conditions are well-balanced between restrictive (zero and exact-number zones) and flexible (greater-than zones), which forces you to think in layers. The real challenge is managing the dominoes that cross zone boundaries - one piece often solves two problems at once, but it can also create two problems if placed wrong.
Tomorrow's Pips drops at midnight. See you then.
