Monday brings a fresh set of NYT Pips puzzles. June 29 delivers a well-balanced slate with clear entry points across all three difficulty levels. The zone configurations reward methodical placement over guesswork. 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: Start with the double dominoes. The 3/3, 4/4, 6/6, and 0/0 are the only dominoes that can satisfy the equal-sign zones and the orange (>9) requirement. Place those first.
Key Insight: The small exact-number zones (green 1, pink 3, purple 6) create a cascade. Solve them in ascending order of total value. Each solved zone constrains the adjacent zones and narrows your remaining options.
Watch Out For: The teal (=) zone shares borders with multiple other zones. A mistake in teal ripples across the entire right side of the board. Double-check that every domino in teal shows the same pip value before locking in your placements.
Step-by-Step Walkthrough
- 1.Place the 3/3 double horizontally in the navy (=) zone. This satisfies the equal condition immediately and establishes the value for any other domino that shares the navy zone.
- 2.Place the 4/4 double horizontally in the teal (=) zone. All dominoes in teal must now show value 4.
- 3.Place the 6/6 double horizontally in the orange (>9) zone. Total of 12 clears the greater-than-9 requirement. No other domino combination works here.
- 4.Tackle green (1). The only way to total 1 is a 0 and a 1. Place the 3/0 domino horizontally so the 0 lands in green (1) and the 3 crosses into navy (3). Green is satisfied.
- 5.Address purple (6). Total of 6 needed. Place the 6/1 domino horizontally with the 6 in purple and the 1 in pink (3). Purple is satisfied.
- 6.Solve pink (3). You already have the 1 from the 6/1 domino. You need 2 more. Place the 2/5 domino horizontally with the 2 in pink and the 5 in orange (16). Pink now totals 1+2 = 3.
- 7.Work on orange (16). Current total: 5 (from step 6). Place the 6/5 domino vertically with the 6 in orange, bringing the total to 11. Then place the 5/5 domino vertically in purple (16), one 5 stays in purple, the other 5 crosses into orange, making orange 5+6+5 = 16.
- 8.Purple (16) now has 5 (from the 5/5 domino in step 7). Place the 6/4 domino vertically with the 6 in purple, bringing purple to 11. The 4 side of the 6/4 lands in teal (=), which requires value 4, a perfect fit.
- 9.Green (6) needs a total of 6. Place the 2/4 domino horizontally in green (6). The 2 and 4 sum to 6.
- 10.Teal (4) needs a total of 4. Place the 4/3 domino vertically so the 4 lands in teal (4) and the 3 crosses into pink (3). The 4 matches teal's equal-sign requirement.
- 11.Place the 1/4 domino vertically in green (1) and teal (=). The 1 goes to green (1), adding to the 0 already there. The 4 goes to teal (=), maintaining the uniform value of 4.
- 12.Place the 0/0 domino vertically in pink (3). Adds 0, keeping pink at the required total of 3.
Hard Pips Solution
Last chance to solve independently
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- 1.Place 3/3 horizontally in navy (=) zone
- 2.Place 4/4 horizontally in teal (=) zone
- 3.Place 6/6 horizontally in orange (>9) zone
- 4.Place 3/0 horizontally in navy (3) zone and green (1) zone
- 5.Place 6/1 horizontally in purple (6) zone and pink (3) zone
- 6.Place 2/5 horizontally in pink (3) zone and orange (16) zone
- 7.Place 6/5 vertically in orange (16) zone
- 8.Place 5/5 vertically in purple (16) zone
- 9.Place 6/4 vertically in purple (16) zone and teal (=) zone
- 10.Place 2/4 horizontally in green (6) zone
- 11.Place 4/3 vertically in teal (4) zone and pink (3) zone
- 12.Place 1/4 vertically in green (1) zone and teal (=) zone
- 13.Place 0/0 vertically in pink (3) zone
Puzzle Debrief
Overall Difficulty: Moderate start to the week. The Easy puzzle is genuinely approachable, ideal for Monday morning warm-up. Medium adds some interesting cross-zone constraint logic. Hard demands careful tracking of cascading totals.
Trickiest Puzzle: Hard, The teal (=) zone creates a hidden trap. Because it requires uniform pip values, any domino crossing into teal must carry the same number. Misplace one domino there and you will need to backtrack multiple steps.
Our Take: Solid Monday lineup. The zone configurations share a common structure across all three levels, which means mastering the Easy puzzle gives you a head start on Medium and Hard. The double dominoes do the heavy lifting in the equal-sign zones, spot those first and the rest falls into place. Tomorrow's Pips drops at midnight. See you then.
