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:

As you can see, today’s Hard Pips is the number 250, celebrating the 250th entry in the NYT Pips puzzle saga. There is a very clear starting point here, though if you don’t start there you may find yourself in a pickle later on thanks to the prevalence of the numbers “2” and “5” and, to a lesser degree, “0.”

Step 1

Begin at the top left by placing the 2/5 domino from Purple 2 into Pink 5. The 6/0 domino slots in Green > 5 up to Blue 0 and the 6/1 domino sits directly next to that from Purple > 5 up into Orange < 2. Finish this step with the 0/3 domino from Orange < 2 over into Dark Blue > 2.

Step 2

Move to the “0” and place the 2/1 domino from Pink 2 down into Purple 2. The 5/0 goes next to that from Blue 5 into Orange 0. We’re given some clues here as to which way the dominos need to go, since we can’t place the 2/5 domino here or at the bottom of the “0” since it absolutely must go in that first slot in Step 1.

In any case, place the 1/1 domino in the top tiles of Pink = and the 1/0 domino from Pink = into Orange 0.

Step 3

Next, place the 5/1 domino from Blue 5 up into Purple 2 and the 2/0 domino from Pink 2 into Purple < 2. The 3/1 domino goes from Orange < 5 up into Green < 2 and the 0/0 domino goes next to that in the remaining two Green < 2 tiles.

Solution

Place the 1/4 domino from Purple < 2 over into Green = and the 4/6 domino from Green = into Dark Blue > 5. The 6/2 domino goes from Blue > 5 up into Dark Blue = and we finish this Pips off with the 2/4 domino from Dark Blue = over into the only free tile on the board. Well done, Pipsqueaks!

All told, a fun and moderately challenging Hard Pips that would have been a lot harder if the opening move wasn’t so telegraphed. Have a great weekend, Pipsqueaks!

How’d you do on today’s Pips? Let me know!

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