Pips hints and answers for Saturday, October 3, 2026
Pips is the NYT domino logic game: place every domino from the tray so that each colored region obeys its rule - a number means the pips in that region add to it, an equals region means every half in it matches, and a not-equal region means no two halves match. Saturday's three boards were edited by Ian Livengood: an Easy board by Livengood with 5 dominoes, a Medium board by Rodolfo Kurchan with 7 dominoes, and a Hard board also by Kurchan with 14 dominoes. Each board gets its own hint ladder below, then its solved grid behind a tap.
Easy board - hints
Hint 0 of 3By Ian Livengood · Tap to show one hint at a time.
Start with the single cells: row 1, column 1 must beat 4, and row 4, column 1 must be less than 1 - in other words, a 0. The pair standing in column 2, rows 1-2, must match each other, the pair standing in column 3, rows 2-3, must add to 8, the pair standing in column 4, rows 2-3, must match each other, and the pair across row 4, columns 2-3, must add to 6.
The column 2 equals pair is all 1s, arriving on two dominoes: the 1-5 domino lying across the top row, columns 1-2, whose 1 sits in column 2 and whose 5 clears the greater-than-4 cell, and the 2-1 domino lying across row 2, columns 2-3, whose 1 sits in column 2 and whose 2 starts the sum-8 pair. The column 4 equals pair is the 6-6 domino standing in column 4, rows 2-3, on its own.
The sum-8 pair is completed by the 6 at row 3, column 3, the top of the 6-4 domino standing in column 3, rows 3-4, whose 4 completes the sum-6 pair in row 4 beside the 2 at the start of the 2-0 domino lying across row 4, columns 1-2, whose 0 fills the less-than-1 cell.
The Easy solution
The solved Easy board: every cell shows its pip count, then the placements and a check of every region rule.
Placements: 1-5 across row 1, columns 1-2 · 2-1 across row 2, columns 2-3 · 6-6 down column 4, rows 2-3 · 6-4 down column 3, rows 3-4 · 2-0 across row 4, columns 1-2
- Greater than 4 5 = 5
- All equal 1 = 1
- Adds to 8 2 + 6
- All equal 6 = 6
- Less than 1 0 = 0
- Adds to 6 2 + 4
Medium board - hints
Hint 0 of 3By Rodolfo Kurchan · Tap to show one hint at a time.
Start with the three cells standing in column 1, rows 1-3, which must all match each other. The pair across the top row, columns 2-3, must total less than 5, two single cells in row 2 are pinned at exactly 6 in columns 2 and 3, the three cells at row 3, column 2, plus row 4, columns 2-3, must all be different from each other, row 3, column 3 must beat 0, row 3, column 4 must add to exactly 2, and row 4, column 5 must be less than 5.
The equals column is all 0s, arriving on two dominoes: the 0-0 domino standing in column 1, rows 2-3, and the 0 at row 1, column 1, the end of the 1-0 domino lying across the top row, columns 1-2, whose 1 also starts the less-than-5 pair, completed by the 3 at the top of the 6-3 domino standing in column 3, rows 1-2, whose 6 fills the pinned 6 at row 2, column 3. The other pinned 6, at row 2, column 2, is the top of the 5-6 domino standing in column 2, rows 2-3, whose 5 is the first cell of the unequal region.
The unequal region reads 5, 0, 2: the 5 of the 5-6 domino, and the 0-2 domino lying across row 4, columns 2-3. The last domino across row 3 is the 4-2 domino lying across columns 3-4: its 4 clears the greater-than-0 cell and its 2 fills the pinned 2. On row 4, the 5-4 domino lying across columns 4-5 puts its 5 in the empty cell and its 4 in the less-than-5 cell.
The Medium solution
The solved Medium board: every cell shows its pip count, then the placements and a check of every region rule.
Placements: 1-0 across row 1, columns 1-2 · 6-3 down column 3, rows 1-2 · 0-0 down column 1, rows 2-3 · 5-6 down column 2, rows 2-3 · 4-2 across row 3, columns 3-4 · 0-2 across row 4, columns 2-3 · 5-4 across row 4, columns 4-5
- All equal 0 = 0 = 0
- Less than 5 1 + 3 = 4
- Adds to 6 6
- Adds to 6 6
- All different 5, 0, 2
- Greater than 0 4 = 4
- Adds to 2 2
- Less than 5 4 = 4
- No rule 1 cell in blank regions, free to take any value
Hard board - hints
Hint 0 of 3By Rodolfo Kurchan · Tap to show one hint at a time.
Work the pinned single cells first: row 1, column 2 must add to exactly 1, row 1, column 3 to exactly 0, row 4, column 5 to exactly 5, row 4, column 6 to exactly 3, row 5, column 5 to exactly 0, and row 5, columns 6 and 7 to exactly 2 each, while row 1, column 1 must beat 4 and row 2, column 1 must beat 3. Around them sit the bigger regions: the pair across the top row, columns 6-7, must add to 8, the pair standing in column 2, rows 2-3, must add to 4, the pair standing in column 4, rows 3-4, must add to 3, and the three cells across row 5, columns 2-4, must add to 10. Two equals regions must match within themselves: the three cells standing in column 7, rows 2-4, and the three cells standing in column 1, rows 3-5.
The column 7 equals region is all 5s, arriving on two dominoes: the 5-5 domino standing in column 7, rows 2-3, and the 5 at row 4, column 7, the top of the 5-2 domino standing in column 7, rows 4-5, whose 2 fills the pinned 2 at the bottom. The column 1 equals region is all 3s: the 3-3 domino standing in column 1, rows 3-4, and the 3 at row 5, column 1, the start of the 3-4 domino lying across row 5, columns 1-2, whose 4 starts the sum-10 row. That row is completed by the 2-4 domino lying across columns 3-4, so the three cells read 4, 2, 4 and add to 10.
Across the top, the first three cells fall in a line: the 5 at row 1, column 1 is the top of the 4-5 domino standing in column 1, rows 1-2, whose 4 clears the greater-than-3 cell, the pinned 1 and 0 are the 1-0 domino lying across columns 2-3, and the sum-8 pair at columns 6-7 is the 3-5 domino lying across them. The sum-4 pair in column 2 reads 3 over 1 on the 1-3 domino standing in rows 2-3, and the sum-3 pair in column 4 reads 1 over 2 on the 2-1 domino standing in rows 3-4. In the middle, the 0-5 domino standing in column 5, rows 3-4, puts its 0 in the empty cell and its 5 in the pinned 5, the 3-6 domino standing in column 6, rows 3-4, puts its 6 in the empty cell and its 3 in the pinned 3, and the bottom row ends with the 2-0 domino lying across columns 5-6, whose 2 fills its pinned cell and whose 0 fills the pinned zero.
The Hard solution
The solved Hard board: every cell shows its pip count, then the placements and a check of every region rule.
Placements: 4-5 down column 1, rows 1-2 · 1-0 across row 1, columns 2-3 · 4-1 across row 1, columns 4-5 · 3-5 across row 1, columns 6-7 · 1-3 down column 2, rows 2-3 · 5-5 down column 7, rows 2-3 · 3-3 down column 1, rows 3-4 · 2-1 down column 4, rows 3-4 · 0-5 down column 5, rows 3-4 · 3-6 down column 6, rows 3-4 · 5-2 down column 7, rows 4-5 · 3-4 across row 5, columns 1-2 · 2-4 across row 5, columns 3-4 · 2-0 across row 5, columns 5-6
- Greater than 4 5 = 5
- Adds to 1 1
- Adds to 0 0
- Adds to 8 3 + 5
- Greater than 3 4 = 4
- Adds to 4 3 + 1
- All equal 5 = 5 = 5
- All equal 3 = 3 = 3
- Adds to 3 1 + 2
- Adds to 5 5
- Adds to 3 3
- Adds to 10 4 + 2 + 4
- Adds to 0 0
- Adds to 2 2
- Adds to 2 2
- No rule 4 cells in blank regions, free to take any value