Saturday brings a fresh set of NYT Pips puzzles. June 13 delivers a rare identical-triad where all three difficulty levels share the same zone layout and solution -- a compact grid with 17 zone entries across 7 colors. We've got hints, step-by-step walkthroughs, and full solutions for Easy, Medium, and Hard.
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: Same grid as Easy and Medium. The purple (>3) zone at the top is your most constrained anchor -- the 5/3 domino is the only piece that can bridge into pink (3) while satisfying both conditions.
Key Insight: This layout is dense with same-color sub-zones that have different conditions. Pink alone appears with four distinct conditions: (3), (>3), (=), and (0). Track each pink sub-zone as a separate constraint island -- what works in one does not carry to another.
Watch Out For: The orange (=) zone requires all pips to be equal, but there is also an orange (3) sub-zone that needs an exact sum of 3. Do not confuse them. The (=) sub-zone is satisfied with two 6s. The (3) sub-zone needs a single 3. They are separate constraint regions even though they share the same color.
Step-by-Step Walkthrough
- 1.Open with the purple (>3) and pink (3) border at the top. Place 5/3 horizontally -- the 5 is greater than 3, satisfying purple's condition. The 3 is exactly 3, satisfying pink's condition. No other domino in the set can bridge this gap cleanly, so this is your forced opener.
- 2.Place 0/6 vertically across teal (0) and orange (=). The 0 satisfies teal's exact-0 requirement. The 6 lands in orange (=), which requires all pips in that zone to be equal. This zone will need at least one more 6 to be satisfied.
- 3.Place 3/6 horizontally in the uncolored zone and orange (=). The 6 in orange (=) matches the 6 from step 2 -- orange (=) is now satisfied with two 6s. The 3 in the uncolored zone is unrestricted, which makes this a safe bridge.
- 4.Place 1/3 vertically in the uncolored zone and orange (3). This is a different orange sub-zone with an exact-3 requirement. The 3 hits it perfectly. The 1 in the uncolored zone has no restriction.
- 5.Place 4/2 horizontally across pink (>3) and teal (<3). The 4 satisfies pink's greater-than-3 condition. The 2 satisfies teal's less-than-3 condition. Two inequality conditions solved with one domino.
- 6.Place 3/0 horizontally across navy (3) and green (0). The 3 satisfies navy's exact-3 requirement. The 0 satisfies green's exact-0 requirement. Clean, efficient placement.
- 7.Place 2/2 vertically in green (=). Both 2s are equal, satisfying the uniform-value condition for this green sub-zone.
- 8.Place 2/1 horizontally across green (=) and the uncolored zone. The 2 in green (=) continues the equal-value pattern established in step 7. The 1 in the uncolored zone is unrestricted.
- 9.Place 0/4 vertically across purple (0) and pink (=). The 0 satisfies purple's exact-0 requirement. The 4 starts the equal-value chain for this pink (=) sub-zone.
- 10.Place 4/3 vertically across pink (=) and navy (3). The 4 in pink (=) matches the 4 from step 9 -- pink (=) now has two 4s, satisfying the equal condition. The 3 in navy hits the exact-3 requirement for that navy sub-zone.
- 11.Place 4/5 horizontally across pink (=) and teal (=). The 4 in pink (=) continues the equal-value pattern -- pink (=) now has three 4s. The 5 in teal (=) starts the equal-value requirement for that teal sub-zone.
- 12.Place 4/4 vertically in pink (=). Both 4s are equal and match the existing 4s in the pink (=) zone. This sub-zone is now fully satisfied with all 4s.
- 13.Place 0/0 horizontally across green (0) and pink (0). Both zeros satisfy their respective exact-0 conditions in one move.
- 14.Place 5/5 vertically in teal (=). Both 5s are equal and match the 5 from step 11 -- teal (=) is satisfied with all 5s.
- 15.Place 1/1 vertically in purple (<4). Both 1s are less than 4, satisfying the less-than condition. This is the final domino -- the grid is complete.
Hard Pips Solution
Last chance to solve independently
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- 1.Place the 5/3 domino horizontally in the purple (>3) zone and pink (3) zone
- 2.Place the 0/6 domino vertically in the teal (0) zone and orange (=) zone
- 3.Place the 3/6 domino horizontally in the uncolored (no condition) zone and orange (=) zone
- 4.Place the 1/3 domino vertically in the uncolored (no condition) zone and orange (3) zone
- 5.Place the 4/2 domino horizontally in the pink (>3) zone and teal (<3) zone
- 6.Place the 3/0 domino horizontally in the navy (3) zone and green (0) zone
- 7.Place the 2/2 domino vertically in the green (=) zone
- 8.Place the 2/1 domino horizontally in the green (=) zone and uncolored (no condition) zone
- 9.Place the 0/4 domino vertically in the purple (0) zone and pink (=) zone
- 10.Place the 4/3 domino vertically in the pink (=) zone and navy (3) zone
- 11.Place the 4/5 domino horizontally in the pink (=) zone and teal (=) zone
- 12.Place the 4/4 domino vertically in the pink (=) zone
- 13.Place the 0/0 domino horizontally in the green (0) zone and pink (0) zone
- 14.Place the 5/5 domino vertically in the teal (=) zone
- 15.Place the 1/1 domino vertically in the purple (<4) zone
Puzzle Debrief
Overall Difficulty: Moderate challenge. All three difficulties share the same zone layout and solution -- an unusual configuration for Pips. The challenge is less about escalating complexity and more about clean execution across three identical runs.
Trickiest Puzzle: Hard -- not because the layout changes, but because the density of same-color sub-zones creates a tracking problem. Pink appears with four different conditions across multiple sub-zones. If you confuse which pink sub-zone needs (=) versus (3) versus (>3) versus (0), the entire solution unravels.
Our Take: An unusual Saturday where Easy, Medium, and Hard are effectively the same puzzle. This is a rare opportunity to internalize zone-condition logic through repetition. The pink zone alone is a master class in constraint isolation -- four conditions, same color, zero margin for error. Clean, efficient, no surprises.
Tomorrow's Pips drops at midnight. See you then.
