NYT Pips
Reading this guide: Official access details and documented facts refer to NYT Games information. Constraint and practice advice is StuckOnWordle’s recommendation, not official instruction or a guaranteed result.
Pips is a daily domino-placement logic puzzle. You place the supplied
dominoes on a board divided into coloured regions, filling every square
while satisfying the condition assigned to each region.
- Launch: globally released on 18 August 2025.
- Goal: use every provided domino and satisfy every coloured-region condition.
- Key idea: each domino half contributes its own number of pips to the region it covers.
Correction — 22 June 2026: This guide was revised to correct its description of the game’s rules and mechanics.
Official access and pricing
Play Pips through the NYT Games app or at NYTimes.com/games/pips. Check the official NYT page for current availability and subscription terms.
How Pips works
A domino covers two adjacent squares and can span two different regions. The numbers of dots on its halves are called pips. Each coloured region has a rule—such as a target total or a relationship between the pips in that region. The board is complete only when every square is covered and every regional rule is met.
Strategy: constrain the dominoes
- Read every regional condition before placing a tile, especially the smallest or most restrictive regions.
- Match constrained regions to the few domino halves that can satisfy them before using flexible tiles elsewhere.
- When a domino crosses a boundary, check the contribution of each half against the rule in the region it enters.
- Rotate a domino mentally before committing it; orientation often determines whether both affected regions can still work.
- Leave unconstrained squares and flexible dominoes until the tighter conditions have narrowed the options.
Use the available dominoes as a finite inventory. If a prospective move leaves no remaining tile that can meet a nearby condition, undo it and try the alternative orientation or placement.
Practice approach
Start by solving the easiest difficulty without a timer. After each completed board, identify which regional rule gave you the first forced placement. This builds a reliable habit of looking for constraints rather than guessing.
- Before placing a tile, name the rule or rules it is intended to satisfy.
- After placing one, re-check every region it touches.
- When stuck, list the remaining dominoes and test them only against the most constrained open spaces.
Quick reminder
Pips is not a row-and-column total puzzle: its rules belong to coloured regions, and the pieces are dominoes. Keep that model in mind whenever you evaluate a move.
Sources and further reading
- NYT Games: Pips — official access and game information.
- NYT Help Center: Word Games and Logic Puzzles — official support information.