We have some pretty challenging Pips puzzles to solve this fine Sunday in January. Even the Easy Pips was a bit of a trick today. Let’s fill up some colorful tiles with this stash of dominos and call it a day!
Looking for Saturday’s Pips? Read our guide right here.
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:
Pips example
Screenshot: Erik Kain
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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
Easy Pips
Screenshot: Erik Kain
Today’s Medium Pips
Medium Pips
Screenshot: Erik Kain
Hard Pips Walkthrough And Solution
Here’s today’s Hard Pips:
Hard Pips
Screenshot: Erik Kain
Today’s Hard Pips looks like an alien face. Or a frog. It’s quite intimidating, with so many small groups and narrow paths. The only thing we really know for sure is that the Blue 27 group will requires three 5’s and two 6’s. But even so, that’s not my favorite place to start. I tried starting there and got all turned around by the end. We also know that we’ll need two more 6’s for Purple 12 and our fifth 6 for Orange 6.
Step 1
Start with the 6/1 domino by placing it in the Orange 6 tile over to Blue 2. Next, place the 1/0 domino from Blue 2 down into Pink = and the 0/0 domino in the next two Pink = tiles. The 0/2 domino goes from Pink = down into Orange 4. (I tried Pink = with 2’s but it didn’t work out, and we’ll need the 1’s and 3’s — the only other dominos with the necessary double — elsewhere).
Hard Pips
Screenshot: Erik Kain
Step 2
Next, place the 5/1 domino from the Pink 5 tile into Purple 3 and the 1/1 domino in the remaining Purple 3 tiles. The 2/1 domino goes from Orange 4 over into Green 1 and the 0/6 domino goes from Green 1 into Purple 12.
Hard Pips
Screenshot: Erik Kain
Step 3
Next up, the 6/3 domino goes from Purple 12 into Pink 7 and the 4/3 domino slots from Pink 7 into Dark Blue 6. The 3/5 domino goes from Dark Blue 6 up into Blue 27 and the 6/5 domino lays down next to it in Blue 27.
Hard Pips
Screenshot: Erik Kain
Solution
Finally, place the 6/2 domino from Blue 27 into Dark Blue 6 and the 2/2 domino in the remaining Dark Blue 6 tiles. The 5/4 domino goes from Blue 27 into Green 10 and the 3/3 domino fills in the remaining Green 10 tiles. And we’re done!
Hard Pips
Screenshot: Erik Kain
Not a single free tile on this board, which always makes things a bit trickier in my humble opinion. This definitely was a challenge, but a fun one!
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Source: https://www.forbes.com/sites/erikkain/2026/01/17/nyt-pips-sunday/
