Wednesday brings a fresh set of NYT Pips puzzles. All three difficulty levels share the same zone layout today, meaning the difference is purely in the domino pool and arrangement required -- a compact, logic-dense session that rewards methodical zone-condition scanning 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: Green (24) is your anchor. Lock in the high-value dominoes there first before tackling the smaller equal-condition zones.
Key Insight: The three-way cluster of teal (3), pink (3), and navy (3) creates a chain of equal-value zones. Solve them as a unit rather than individually.
Watch Out For: Over-committing dominoes to the purple (12) zone before the pink (11) and purple (8) zones are accounted for. The 4/6 and 3/4 dominoes both touch purple zones -- get the orientation right or you'll need to backtrack.
Step-by-Step Walkthrough
- 1.Anchor the green (24) zone. Place the 6/6 horizontally for 12 pips. Then add the 5/6 vertically (bridging teal 9) and the 4/6 vertically (bridging purple 8). Green now has 6+6+6+6 = 24. The 5 and 4 from those bridging dominoes are committed to their respective zones.
- 2.Solve the teal (3), pink (3), navy (3) chain. Place 1/1 vertically in teal (3), both pips are 1, satisfying the equal condition. Bridge teal (3) to pink (3) with the 1/0 vertically, the 1 completes teal's sum of 3, and the 0 sits in pink. Bridge pink (3) to navy (3) with the 3/3 vertically, both zones get equal 3s, satisfying both conditions.
- 3.Work the purple (12) and pink (11) zones. Place the 6/3 horizontally: 6 into purple (12), 3 into pink (11). Place the 2/6 horizontally across the uncolored zone and purple (12): the 6 brings purple to 12. Place the 4/4 vertically in pink (11): both 4s give pink 8, which with the 3 from the 6/3 totals 11.
- 4.Bridge navy (3) and teal (9) with the 1/4 horizontally. Navy gets its final pip (1) for a total of 3. Teal (9) gets the 4 from this domino plus the 5 already placed from the 5/6 in step 1, reaching exactly 9.
- 5.Place the 2/2 horizontally bridging navy (3) and green (5). Navy is complete at 3. Green (5) gets 2.
- 6.Place the 3/4 horizontally bridging green (5) and purple (8). Green gets 3 (total 5). Purple gets 4 (total 8).
- 7.Finish with the orange zones. Place the 1/2 horizontally in orange (3), sum is 3. Place the 5/5 vertically in orange (10), equal values of 5, sum is 10.
Hard Pips Solution
Last chance to solve independently
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- 1.Place the 6/6 domino horizontally in the green (24) zone
- 2.Place the 5/6 domino vertically in the teal (9) zone and green (24) zone
- 3.Place the 4/6 domino vertically in the purple (8) zone and green (24) zone
- 4.Place the 1/1 domino vertically in the teal (3) zone
- 5.Place the 1/0 domino vertically in the teal (3) zone and pink (3) zone
- 6.Place the 3/3 domino vertically in the pink (3) zone and navy (3) zone
- 7.Place the 6/3 horizontally in purple (12) zone and pink (11) zone
- 8.Place the 2/6 domino horizontally in the uncolored (no condition) zone and purple (12) zone.
- 9.Place the 4/4 domino vertically in the pink (11) zone.
- 10.Place the 1/4 domino horizontally in the navy (3) zone and teal (9) zone
- 11.Place the 2/2 domino horizontally in the navy (3) zone and green (5) zone
- 12.Place the 3/4 domino horizontally in the green (5) zone and purple (8) zone
- 13.Place the 1/2 domino horizontally in the orange (3) zone
- 14.Place the 5/5 domino vertically in the orange (10) zone
Puzzle Debrief
Overall Difficulty: Moderate challenge -- the zone layout is identical across all three difficulties, so the puzzle structure is consistent, but the constraints tighten as you move up. The equal-condition zones at 3 and the exact-sum green (24) create a satisfying logical chain.
Trickiest Puzzle: Hard -- because all three difficulties share the same solution, the Hard label depends on fewer hints and less forgiving domino orientation. The teal (3)/pink (3)/navy (3) chain is the most error-prone section; one wrong orientation there cascades into every downstream zone.
Our Take: Unusual to see identical zone maps across all three tiers today, which makes this more of a "precision check" than a difficulty ramp. The green (24) anchor strategy works every time -- lock in the big sum first, chain the equal-condition zones second, and clean up the orange zones last. Efficient, repeatable, and a good reminder that Pips rewards systematic thinking over brute force.
Tomorrow's Pips drops at midnight. See you then.
