NYT Pips

Pips is a newer NYT logic puzzle that asks you to place numbered pips on a grid so every row and column satisfies its clue totals. Inspired by dice faces, each clue tells you how many pips must appear in that line, while darkened cells block placements. Early prototypes appeared in the NYT Games beta collection in 2024 before graduating into wider release alongside the other daily logic titles.

• Launch: beta tested in 2024 within the NYT Games app and web beta.
• Goal: place pips to satisfy row/column totals without overlapping shaded cells or exceeding a clue.
• Board feel: combines the arithmetic of nonograms with the spatial logic of Battleship-style placement.

Official access and pricing

Play Pips through the NYT Games app or at NYTimes.com/games/pips. Daily boards are included with an NYT Games subscription; limited beta boards have occasionally been free to anyone with a New York Times account during testing windows, but ongoing streak tracking and the archive sit behind the paid tier.

Origins and rules refresh

NYT puzzle editors built Pips to bridge sudoku-style deduction with crisp arithmetic. Each grid lists row and column sums; you place pips (dots) into empty squares so every line matches its clue, and shaded squares block placements. Some editions limit the maximum stack size in a single square (often up to three pips), forcing you to distribute pips across multiple cells to meet a line total.

As the game evolved, the team added gentle starter boards with small row/column totals to teach the “must place” logic—if a line needs six pips across three open squares, at least two pips must sit in each. More advanced boards mix high and low totals together, making it harder to see forced moves without mapping overlaps.

Strategy: locking rows without backtracking

• Start positions: first fill any line where the remaining squares exactly equal the total (e.g., a row with three empty cells and a clue of three means each gets one pip).
• Overlap counting: mark the minimum and maximum pips that can fit in each cell by comparing row and column needs; cells required by both lines are your safest early placements.
• Block propagation: whenever you finish a row or column, shade the adjacent intersections mentally so you do not accidentally overfill them later.
• Chunking: split the grid into quadrants and solve one at a time to spot local contradictions faster.
• Parity check: if a column needs an odd number of pips but only has pairs of open squares, you know one square must hold a stack of two or more—use that to prioritize testing higher pip counts.

Consider penciling low numbers on paper or digitally: mark “1” or “2” in cells that must contain at least that many pips, then convert them to full dots once certain. If you place a cluster and a line total becomes impossible, undo immediately and note the contradiction as a banned pattern to avoid repeating it.

Advanced drills and opener templates

Borrow the “Getting to Genius” rhythm by cycling starter drills: one day commit to finishing all rows with totals under four before touching anything else; another day, fill only the highest totals to anchor the grid; on a third day, mark every cell that participates in two large totals to reveal chokepoints.

• Range maps: write the min/max pip range for each cell based on its row and column; cells with identical ranges often unlock chains of forced placements.
• Edge sweeps: solve outer rows and columns first to cap the totals of interior lines—this keeps mid-grid guesses honest.
• Timed sprints: set a three-minute timer to complete two quadrants, take a brief pause, then finish. The reset prevents tunnel vision on a single contradiction.
• Reverse builds: after solving, remove a completed row and see if the puzzle still has a unique solution. Noting why it fails teaches you what information truly mattered.

Interesting notes

Many solvers compare Pips to a mashup of nonograms and kakuro: the pip stacks create bold visual patterns, and the arithmetic forces precise allocation. On mobile, the haptic taps mimic rolling dice, reinforcing the theme while keeping inputs quick.

Practice idea: rebuild a finished board but intentionally swap one pip from each completed line into an empty square. Track which swaps keep the totals valid and which break them to internalize how sensitive the grid is to overfilling specific intersections.