How To Play Pips

In Pips, you have a grid of multicolored boxes. Each colored area represents a different “condition” that you have to achieve. You have a select number of dominoes that you have to spend filling in the grid. You must use every domino and achieve every condition properly to win. There are Easy, Medium and Difficult tiers.

Here’s an example of a difficult tier Pips:

As you can see, the grid has a bunch of symbols and numbers with each color. On the far left, the three purple squares must not equal one another (hence the equal sign crossed out). The two pink squares next to that must equal a total of 0. The zig-zagging blue squares all must equal one another. You click on dominoes to rotate them, and will need to since they have to be rotated to fit where they belong.

Not shown on this grid are other conditions, such as “less than” or “greater than.” If there are multiple tiles with > or < signs, the total of those tiles must be greater or less than the listed number. It varies by grid. Blank spaces can have anything. The various possible conditions are:

• = All pips must equal one another in this group.
• ≠ All pips must not equal one another in this group.
• > The pip in this tile (or tiles) must be greater than the listed number.
• < The pip in this tile must be less than the listed number.
• An exact number (like 6) The pip must equal this exact number.
• Tiles with no conditions can be anything.

In order to win, you have to use up all your dominoes by filling in all the squares, making sure to fit each condition. Sometimes there’s only one way to solve the puzzle. Other times, there can be two or more different solutions. Play today’s Pips puzzle here.

Today’s Pips Solutions And Walkthrough

Below are the solutions for the Easy and Medium tier Pips. After that, I’ll walk you through the Hard puzzle. Spoilers ahead.

Today’s Easy Pips

Today’s Medium Pips

Hard Pips Walkthrough And Solution

Here’s today’s Hard Pips:

Today’s Hard Pips is the word “LEO” despite the fact that we’re deep into gemini territory as far as the astrological charts are concerned. In any case, the trick today is figuring out how to make a bunch of 6’s in the “O” which doesn’t actually have a 6 tile, but rather several 6 groups of two or three tiles each. Getting rid of both our large pip dominoes and our blanks in the “L” and “E” is crucial.

Step 1

Start with the 6/5 domino from Purple 6 to Orange > 9 and the 6/2 domino from Orange > 9 into Green 7. The 5/2 domino goes from Green 7 into Pink 2 and then we hop over to the “E.” Place the 4/2 domino from Purple 4 into Blue 6 and the 4/6 domino from Blue 6 into Orange 6.

Step 2

Next, place the 5/0 domino from Dark Blue > 4 into Pink = and the 0/0 domino above that. The 0/3 domino goes from Pink 0 into Blue < 4. Move to the “O” and place the 0/2 domino from Purple 0 into Pink = and the 2/1 domino from Pink = into Orange 6.

Solution

Place the 5/3 domino from Orange 6 into Blue 6 and the 3/3 domino from Blue 6 into Green 6. The 3/4 domino goes from Green 6 into Dark Blue 6 and finish the whole thing off with the 1/1 domino in the remaining Dark Blue 6 tiles.

I almost shot myself in the foot today. The abundance of 6’s in the “O” made my brain spasm out and I kept thinking the Pink = was Pink 6. I was so confused! Then I realized I was just looking at it wrong and everything came together.

How’d you do on today’s Pips?

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