Pips hints and answers for Sunday, October 25, 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. Sunday's three boards were edited by Ian Livengood: an Easy board by Livengood with 5 dominoes, then Medium and Hard boards by Rodolfo Kurchan with 7 and 16 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.
The three-cell region at the top marked less than 1 is the anchor: every cell in it must show 0, which spends three of the tray's 0 halves at once.
Both top corners are greater-than cells: the top-left must beat 4, so only a 5 fits there, and the top-right must beat 2.
Place the 3-5 domino across the top row, columns 1-2, with the 5 in the top-left corner. The equals pair standing in column 2, rows 3-4, is two 1s arriving on two different dominoes: the 1-0 above and the 4-1 below.
The Easy solution
The solved Easy board: every cell shows its pip count, then the placements and a check of every region rule.
Placements: 3-5 across row 1, columns 1-2 · 3-0 across row 1, columns 3-4 · 1-0 down column 2, rows 2-3 · 0-2 down column 3, rows 2-3 · 4-1 across row 4, columns 2-3
- Greater than 4 5 = 5
- Less than 1 0 + 0 + 0 = 0
- Greater than 2 3 = 3
- All equal 1 = 1
- Adds to 6 2 + 4
- No rule 1 cell in blank regions, free to take any value
Medium board - hints
Hint 0 of 3By Rodolfo Kurchan · Tap to show one hint at a time.
Several single cells are exact: row 1, column 4 must be 0; row 3 ends with a 3 and then a 6; and the bottom row's middle cell must be 6.
The equals pair on row 3, columns 1-2, is the 3-3 domino lying flat: an early double that fixes the whole left side.
The bottom row finishes with the 6-5 domino across columns 2-3: the 5 sits in column 2, where it has to beat 4, and the 6 sits in column 3, where it must be exactly 6.
The Medium solution
The solved Medium board: every cell shows its pip count, then the placements and a check of every region rule.
Placements: 1-3 down column 2, rows 1-2 · 0-0 across row 1, columns 3-4 · 2-3 down column 3, rows 2-3 · 3-3 across row 3, columns 1-2 · 6-0 down column 4, rows 3-4 · 2-4 across row 4, columns 2-3 · 6-5 across row 5, columns 2-3
- Adds to 0 0
- Less than 2 1 = 1
- All equal 3 = 3
- Adds to 3 3
- Adds to 6 6
- Greater than 2 4 = 4
- Greater than 4 5 = 5
- Adds to 6 6
- No rule 5 cells 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.
Every region on this board is a single cell with an exact number: 32 pinned cells and no equals or inequality regions at all. The puzzle is pure placement, matching each domino's halves to two neighboring pinned numbers.
Two dominoes complete the top row's right side: the 3-5 lies across columns 2-3 (5 in column 2, 3 in column 3) and the 2-5 lies across columns 4-5.
The bottom row, row 6, reads 4, 5, 1, 4, 2 across columns 2-6: the 4-5 domino lies across columns 2-3, the 2-4 lies across columns 5-6, and the 1-5 stands in column 4 between them.
The Hard solution
The solved Hard board: every cell shows its pip count, then the placements and a check of every region rule.
Placements: 0-2 down column 1, rows 1-2 · 3-5 across row 1, columns 2-3 · 2-5 across row 1, columns 4-5 · 0-3 down column 2, rows 2-3 · 3-4 across row 2, columns 3-4 · 2-3 down column 5, rows 2-3 · 1-3 down column 1, rows 3-4 · 3-6 across row 3, columns 3-4 · 0-5 down column 6, rows 3-4 · 0-4 down column 2, rows 4-5 · 1-4 down column 3, rows 4-5 · 1-2 across row 4, columns 4-5 · 1-5 down column 4, rows 5-6 · 0-1 across row 5, columns 5-6 · 4-5 across row 6, columns 2-3 · 2-4 across row 6, columns 5-6
- Adds to 2 2
- Adds to 5 5
- Adds to 3 3
- Adds to 2 2
- Adds to 5 5
- Adds to 0 0
- Adds to 0 0
- Adds to 3 3
- Adds to 4 4
- Adds to 3 3
- Adds to 3 3
- Adds to 3 3
- Adds to 3 3
- Adds to 6 6
- Adds to 2 2
- Adds to 5 5
- Adds to 1 1
- Adds to 4 4
- Adds to 4 4
- Adds to 1 1
- Adds to 2 2
- Adds to 0 0
- Adds to 0 0
- Adds to 1 1
- Adds to 5 5
- Adds to 0 0
- Adds to 1 1
- Adds to 4 4
- Adds to 5 5
- Adds to 1 1
- Adds to 4 4
- Adds to 2 2