Saturday brings a fresh set of NYT Pips puzzles. Today's lineup offers consistent zone layouts across all three difficulties, with orange (=) and navy (=) zones creating structural anchors. The pink (15) exact-sum zone in every puzzle demands careful pip counting from the start.
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 (=) zones are your structural anchors. Drop the 6/6 domino in the top one immediately to lock in the equal condition and create a reference point for everything else.
Key Insight: The pink (15) zone and purple (6) zone share a vertical seam. Two dominoes cross that seam with 5s feeding into pink, which means you can solve both zones simultaneously by tracking cumulative totals.
Watch Out For: The purple (2) zone is easy to overlook. It receives pips from two different dominoes (2/1 and 1/3), and both contribute 1. If you misplace either domino, purple (2) breaks and you have to backtrack through the entire navy (=) chain.
Step-by-Step Walkthrough
- 1.Place the 6/6 domino horizontally in the top orange (=) zone. This is the only move that satisfies the equal condition here, since both cells must show the same value and 6/6 is the only double available that fits.
- 2.Position the 2/5 domino vertically along the purple (6)/pink (15) boundary with the 5 end in pink. Purple (6) now has 2 of its required 6 total. Pink (15) has 5 of its required 15.
- 3.Place the 4/5 domino vertically next to it, again with 5 in pink and 4 in purple. Purple (6) now totals 2+4=6, satisfied. Pink (15) now totals 5+5=10.
- 4.Lay the 3/5 domino horizontally across the navy (=) zone and pink (15) zone, with the 5 end in pink. Pink now totals 10+5=15, satisfied. The 3 end lands in navy, which must maintain equal values across all its cells.
- 5.Place the 2/1 domino vertically across the teal (2) zone and purple (2) zone. The 2 end goes in teal (2), the 1 end in purple (2). Purple (2) now has 1.
- 6.Position the 6/3 domino vertically across the green (6) zone and teal (7) zone. The 6 end goes in green (6), satisfying its exact requirement. The 3 end goes in teal (7).
- 7.Place the 3/3 domino horizontally in the navy (=) zone. Both cells show 3, matching the 3 already placed in navy from step 4. The equal condition holds.
- 8.Lay the 3/4 domino horizontally across the navy (=) zone and teal (7) zone. The 4 end goes in teal, which now totals 3+4=7, satisfied. The 3 end in navy matches all other navy cells.
- 9.Place the 1/3 domino horizontally across the purple (2) zone and navy (=) zone. The 1 end goes in purple (2), now totaling 1+1=2, satisfied. The 3 end in navy maintains the equal condition.
- 10.Position the 0/3 domino horizontally across the bottom orange (=) zone and navy (=) zone. The 0 end in orange starts the equal chain for the bottom zone.
- 11.Place the 0/6 domino horizontally across the bottom orange (=) zone and green (>3) zone. Orange now has 0+0=0, both cells equal. Green (>3) gets 6, well above the threshold.
- 12.Place the 0/1 domino horizontally across the bottom orange (=) zone and purple (<3) zone. Orange gets its third 0, all matching. Purple (<3) gets 1, satisfying the less-than condition.
Hard Pips Solution
Last chance to solve independently
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- 1.Place the 2/5 domino vertically in the purple (6) zone and pink (15) zone
- 2.Place the 4/5 domino vertically in the purple (6) zone and pink (15) zone
- 3.Place the 2/1 domino vertically in the teal (2) zone and purple (2) zone
- 4.Place the 6/6 domino horizontally in the orange (=) zone
- 5.Place the 3/5 domino horizontally in the navy (=) zone and pink (15) zone
- 6.Place the 6/3 domino vertically in the green (6) zone and teal (7) zone
- 7.Place the 3/3 domino horizontally in the navy (=) zone
- 8.Place the 3/4 domino horizontally in the navy (=) zone and teal (7) zone
- 9.Place the 1/3 domino horizontally in the purple (2) zone and navy (=) zone
- 10.Place the 0/3 domino horizontally in the orange (=) zone and navy (=) zone
- 11.Place the 0/6 domino horizontally in the orange (=) zone and green (>3) zone
- 12.Place the 0/1 domino horizontally in the orange (=) zone and purple (<3) zone
Puzzle Debrief
Overall Difficulty: Moderate challenge with a consistent structural theme across all three difficulties.
Trickiest Puzzle: Hard - The purple (2) zone is the trap. It requires exactly 2 pips, which come from two different dominoes (2/1 and 1/3) each contributing 1. If you place either domino incorrectly, the entire navy (=) chain unravels and you have to restart from the orange anchors.
Our Take: Today's puzzles share identical zone layouts and solutions across Easy, Medium, and Hard, making this more about execution speed than escalating complexity. The orange (=) zones are the structural spine of every grid, and once you lock those in with the 6/6 and 0-value dominoes, the rest is methodical placement. A good day to work on your pip-counting discipline.
Tomorrow's Pips drops at midnight. See you then.
