Saturday brings a fresh set of NYT Pips puzzles. All three difficulty levels share the same 12-zone layout built around four equal-condition zones and eight exact-number zones, which means today's solve is all about locking in the equal zones first and letting the exact-number requirements fall into place. 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 green (=) zone is the puzzle's keystone. All four dominoes that touch it contribute a 0, so establish that zone first and it collapses the rest of the low-value cluster.
Key Insight: The two purple (10) zones are the tightest constraints on the board. One of them fills with a 6 and a 4; the other takes a lone 5/5. Spotting that split early tells you exactly where the 2/6, 4/4, and 5/5 dominoes belong.
Watch Out For: The teal (=) zone receives dominoes from three different directions (0/1, 1/4, 1/2, 1/5). If you misplace the 0/1 early, the teal zone's equal value breaks and you have to tear down the entire green-to-teal corridor to fix it.
Step-by-Step Walkthrough
- 1.Place the 0/0 horizontally in the green (=) zone. Green's equal value snaps to 0, and this becomes the reference point for everything touching green.
- 2.Place the 3/0 horizontally so the 0 stays in the green (=) zone and the 3 crosses into the pink (=) zone. Pink's equal value is now seeded at 3.
- 3.Place the 0/1 horizontally with the 0 in the green (=) zone and the 1 in the teal (=) zone. Green is locked at zero; teal takes its first value of 1.
- 4.Place the 2/0 horizontally with the 0 in the green (=) zone and the 2 in the orange (=) zone. Green is now fully satisfied, and orange starts at 2.
- 5.Drop the 3/3 vertically entirely inside the pink (=) zone. This confirms pink's equal value at 3 and anchors the middle of the grid.
- 6.Place the 3/4 vertically with the 3 in the pink (=) zone and the 4 in the navy (4) zone. The navy (4) exact-number requirement is met in a single placement.
- 7.Place the 6/3 vertically with the 6 in the navy (10) zone and the 3 in the pink (=) zone. Pink holds at 3; navy (10) is now short exactly 4.
- 8.Place the 1/4 vertically with the 1 in the teal (=) zone and the 4 in the navy (10) zone. Navy (10) totals 10 and is complete. Teal holds at 1.
- 9.Place the 1/2 horizontally with the 1 in the teal (=) zone and the 2 in the orange (=) zone. Both equal zones stay consistent (teal at 1, orange at 2).
- 10.Place the 4/2 vertically with the 4 in the pink (9) zone and the 2 in the orange (=) zone. Orange is complete at 2; pink (9) starts at 4.
- 11.Place the 2/6 vertically with the 2 in the orange (=) zone and the 6 in a purple (10) zone. Orange stays at 2; that purple (10) needs exactly 4 more.
- 12.Place the 4/4 vertically with the 4 in a purple (10) zone and the 4 in the orange (9) zone. That purple (10) now totals 10 and is done. Orange (9) needs 5 more.
- 13.Place the 1/5 horizontally with the 1 in the teal (=) zone and the 5 in the orange (9) zone. Orange (9) totals 9; teal finishes its equal set at 1.
- 14.Place the 3/5 horizontally with the 3 in the purple (3) zone and the 5 in the pink (9) zone. Purple (3) is satisfied; pink (9) totals 9.
- 15.Finish with the 5/5 horizontally in the remaining purple (10) zone. Every zone condition is met and all dominoes are placed.
Hard Pips Solution
Last chance to solve independently
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- 1.Place the 0/0 domino horizontally in the green (=) zone
- 2.Place the 3/0 domino horizontally in the pink (=) zone and green (=) zone
- 3.Place the 0/1 domino horizontally in the green (=) zone and teal (=) zone
- 4.Place the 2/0 domino horizontally in the orange (=) zone and green (=) zone
- 5.Place the 3/3 domino vertically in the pink (=) zone
- 6.Place the 3/4 domino vertically in the pink (=) zone and navy (4) zone
- 7.Place the 6/3 domino vertically in the navy (10) zone and pink (=) zone
- 8.Place the 1/4 domino vertically in the teal (=) zone and navy (10) zone
- 9.Place the 1/2 domino horizontally in the teal (=) zone and orange (=) zone
- 10.Place the 4/2 domino vertically in the pink (9) zone and orange (=) zone
- 11.Place the 2/6 domino vertically in the orange (=) zone and purple (10) zone
- 12.Place the 4/4 domino vertically in the purple (10) zone and orange (9) zone
- 13.Place the 1/5 domino horizontally in the teal (=) zone and orange (9) zone
- 14.Place the 3/5 domino horizontally in the purple (3) zone and pink (9) zone
- 15.Place the 5/5 domino horizontally in the purple (10) zone
Puzzle Debrief
Overall Difficulty: Moderate challenge -- the zone layout is identical across all three levels, so the difficulty comes from how many constraints you can track simultaneously rather than from new geometry.
Trickiest Puzzle: Hard -- the teal (=) zone is fed from multiple directions, so a single wrong placement in the green-to-teal corridor forces a full rebuild. The two purple (10) zones also demand precision: split them wrong and the entire right side of the grid collapses.
Our Take: Today's set rewards pattern recognition. The equal zones are all single-value zones (green at 0, pink at 3, teal at 1, orange at 2), which makes them unusually forgiving once you spot the pattern. The real work is sequencing: lock the equal zones first, then let the exact-number zones resolve themselves. Master the Easy walkthrough and the Medium and Hard variants become a matter of speed, not strategy.
Tomorrow's Pips drops at midnight. See you then.
