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 quite the challenge, mostly because it’s not at all clear where to begin. There’s a clue, however, as there always is: The 6’s are a finite resource here. We have four 6’s and two 12 groups, meaning all four of these have to go in Dark Blue 12 and Green 12. Since one is a double (6/6) the trick is figuring out where it goes. Also, since we know we can’t make 10 using a 6 and a 4, we need both of our 5’s in Purple 10. We effectively have an entire first step built around these considerations. Let’s begin.

Step 1

Place the 6/2 domino from Green 12 into Orange = (we’ll need the 2/2 double to make this one work). The 6/4 domino goes from Green 12 over into Dark Blue =. Next place, the 6/6 domino in the Dark Blue 12 group. Place the 5/2 domino from Purple 10 into Orange = and the 5/4 domino from Purple 10 into Pink =.

Step 2

Next, place the 4/0 domino from Dark Blue = into Purple 4 and the 3/2 domino from Purple 4 into Orange =. The 3/1 domino goes from Pink 3 into Purple 4 and the 2/2 domino fills in the remaining Orange = tiles. Finish Step 2 with the 4/2 domino from Pink = into Blue 2.

Solution

Place the 0/0 domino in the top two Green = tiles and the 0/1 domino from Green = down into Orange 2. The 4/1 domino goes from Blue 4 down into Orange 2 and the 0/2 domino goes from Orange 2 down into Pink 2. Finally, place the 4/3 domino from Dark Blue = into Purple 3 and you’re done!

This was a solid challenge and a very fun Hard Pips: Not too hard, not too easy. Just right.

How’d you do on today’s Pips?

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