It’s Martin Luther King Jr. Day, so happy holidays and enjoy your time off work and school. I think we would all do well to remember Dr. King these days, in another era of civil unrest and division. Of course, we’re not here to talk politics. We’re here to solve today’s Easy, Medium and Hard Pips. Let’s bust out these dominos!
Looking for Sunday’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
This is a bit of a befuddling Hard Pips, with three = groups consisting of four tiles apiece, and a number of free tiles that muddle where to start. We’ll just dive right in.
Step 1
After some misfires, I decided to start at Green = and determined and went with blank dominos for these tiles. The 0/0 domino goes in the far left two tiles vertically. Next, place the 0/1 domino from Green = into Orange = and the 0/2 domino from Green = into the Purple 2 tile. Lay the 1/1 domino in the two Orange = tiles next to these.
Hard Pips
Screenshot: Erik Kain
Step 2
Place the 1/2 domino from Orange = up into Pink = and the 2/6 domino from Pink = into Blue 12. The 2/2 domino finishes up Pink = and the 3/4 domino goes into the two Dark Blue 7 tiles.
Hard Pips
Screenshot: Erik Kain
Solution
Place the 6/5 domino from the Blue > 4 tile into Pink 10 and the 5/3 domino above that, from Pink 10 into the first free tile. The 6/0 domino goes from Blue 12 down into the second free tile, and the 1/5 domino goes from the Purple 1 tile down into the third and final free tile. And that’s a wrap!
Hard Pips
Screenshot: Erik Kain
I’m not sure if this was a uniquely challenging Pips of if I was just a little tired today and not firing on all cylinders. Either way, a fun puzzle! How did you do?
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Source: https://www.forbes.com/sites/erikkain/2026/01/18/nyt-pips-monday/
