Monday brings a fresh set of NYT Pips puzzles to kick off the week. July 20 delivers a well-balanced trio with consistent zone layouts across all three difficulty levels, making this a solid day to sharpen your domino placement logic. 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: The orange (0) zone is your only guaranteed starting position. Only 0/0 can satisfy a zero-sum requirement. Place it first and build outward from this fixed point.
Key Insight: Multiple zones share the same color with different conditions (purple =, purple 10; pink =, pink >3; teal 1, teal 0, teal =; orange 0, orange 8, orange 2). Track each zone by its condition, not its color. Two purple zones with different conditions are completely independent.
Watch Out For: The equal-condition zones (navy =, purple =, green =, pink =, teal =) are the real traps. Each domino half entering an equal-condition zone must carry the same pip value as every other half in that zone. One wrong value breaks the entire zone. The pink (>3) zone is also restrictive -- only values 4, 5, or 6 are allowed, so verify each placement against this threshold.
Step-by-Step Walkthrough
- 1.Place the 0/0 domino horizontally in the orange (0) zone. This is the only domino that can satisfy a zero-sum condition. Lock it in immediately.
- 2.Place the 0/6 domino vertically, bridging orange (0) and navy (=). The 0 stays in orange (0). The 6 enters navy (=), establishing that every subsequent pip in navy (=) must also be 6.
- 3.Place the 6/1 domino horizontally, bridging navy (=) and green (=). Navy (=) gets another 6, maintaining consistency. Green (=) gets a 1, setting its equal condition to 1.
- 4.Place the 2/2 domino horizontally in the pink (=) zone. Both halves are 2, setting this pink zone's equal condition to 2.
- 5.Place the 5/2 domino horizontally, bridging purple (=) and pink (=). Purple (=) gets a 5, setting its equal condition. Pink (=) gets a 2, matching the existing pips.
- 6.Place the 5/1 domino vertically, bridging purple (=) and teal (1). Purple (=) gets another 5. Teal (1) gets a 1, satisfying its exact-sum condition.
- 7.Place the 5/6 domino horizontally, bridging pink (>3) and navy (=). The 5 goes into pink (>3), 5 is greater than 3, condition satisfied. The 6 goes into navy (=), matching the existing 6s.
- 8.Place the 6/3 domino vertically, bridging navy (=) and purple (=). Navy (=) gets another 6. This purple (=) zone gets a 3, setting its equal condition (this is a separate purple zone from step 5's purple (=) zone).
- 9.Place the 3/3 domino vertically in the purple (=) zone. Both halves are 3, matching the equal condition.
- 10.Place the 4/6 domino vertically in the purple (10) zone. Sum 4+6=10 satisfies the exact-sum condition.
- 11.Place the 1/0 domino horizontally, bridging green (=) and teal (0). Green (=) gets another 1, maintaining consistency. Teal (0) gets a 0, satisfying its exact-sum condition.
- 12.Place the 1/1 domino vertically in the green (=) zone. Both halves are 1, matching the equal condition.
- 13.Place the 4/4 domino vertically in the orange (8) zone. Sum 4+4=8 satisfies the exact-sum condition.
- 14.Place the 6/6 domino vertically in the pink (=) zone. Both halves are 6, setting this pink (=) zone's equal condition (distinct from the pink (=) zone with 2s from step 4).
- 15.Place the 6/2 domino vertically, bridging pink (=) and orange (2). Pink (=) gets another 6. Orange (2) gets a 2, satisfying its exact-sum condition.
- 16.Place the 5/5 domino vertically in the teal (=) zone. Both halves are 5, setting the equal condition and completing the puzzle.
Hard Pips Solution
Last chance to solve independently
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- 1.Place the 0/0 domino horizontally in the orange (0) zone
- 2.Place the 0/6 domino vertically in the orange (0) and navy (=) zones
- 3.Place the 6/1 domino horizontally in the navy (=) and green (=) zones
- 4.Place the 2/2 domino horizontally in the pink (=) zone
- 5.Place the 5/2 domino horizontally in the purple (=) and pink (=) zones
- 6.Place the 5/1 domino vertically in the purple (=) and teal (1) zones
- 7.Place the 5/6 domino horizontally in the pink (>3) and navy (=) zones
- 8.Place the 6/3 domino vertically in the navy (=) and purple (=) zones
- 9.Place the 3/3 domino vertically in the purple (=) zone
- 10.Place the 4/6 domino vertically in the purple (10) zone
- 11.Place the 1/0 domino horizontally in the green (=) and teal (0) zones
- 12.Place the 1/1 domino vertically in the green (=) zone
- 13.Place the 4/4 domino vertically in the orange (8) zone
- 14.Place the 6/6 domino vertically in the pink (=) zone
- 15.Place the 6/2 domino vertically in the pink (=) and orange (2) zones
- 16.Place the 5/5 domino vertically in the teal (=) zone
Puzzle Debrief
Overall Difficulty: Moderate challenge. The zone layouts are identical across all three difficulty levels, but the strategic depth comes from managing multiple same-color zones with different conditions and tracking equal-condition constraints across zone boundaries.
Trickiest Puzzle: Hard - The equal-condition zones (navy =, purple =, green =, pink =, teal =) create a dense web of interdependencies. One wrong pip value entering an equal-condition zone cascades into a full reset. The pink (>3) zone adds another layer of restriction, making it easy to run out of valid domino orientations.
Our Take: Today's Pips set is a solid Monday workout. The consistent zone layout across all difficulties lets you build muscle memory on the same spatial logic while the challenge ramps up through constraint density. The equal-condition zones are the real gatekeepers -- they punish rushed placements and reward methodical tracking. A clean, satisfying solve when you nail the sequence.
Tomorrow's Pips drops at midnight. See you then.
