NYT Pips hints, answers for August 27, 2026

Welcome to your guide for navigating the latest game from the New York Times, Pips. Released in August 2025, Pips offers a distinctive twist on dominoes, presenting a captivating single-player experience that may become your new go-to gaming routine. When you encounter a snag while playing, you're only given the entire puzzle, which forces you to restart at the next difficulty level. Thankfully, we're here to help! Below, you'll find piecemeal answers that act as hints to guide you through each challenge level.

How to play Pips:

If you're familiar with dominoes, you'll find Pips easy enough to pick up. The tiles are placed either vertically or horizontally, just like in traditional dominoes, and they connect with one another. However, unlike dominoes, the tiles in Pips don't need to match in color. Each tile in a color-coded space must meet specific conditions instead. For instance, if a space displays a single number, all the pips on the tiles within that space must sum up to that number.

Number (4): To meet this condition, the sum of all pips in the space must equal 4. The solution is a single tile with pips reading 1-4, placed horizontally.

Number (3): In this case, the sum of all pips in the space must be 3. The answer is a single tile displaying pips 3-6, also placed horizontally.

Greater Than (5): This condition requires that the sum of pips on each tile in the space must exceed 5. The answer is a single tile with pips 2-6, placed horizontally.

Not Equal: Here, every tile within the space must have a different number of pips. The answer is composed of four different tiles: 1-4, 3-6, 2-6, and 5-3, each placed horizontally.

Equal (5): For this challenge, all tiles in the space must display the same number of pips. The answer is a single tile with pips 5-5, placed horizontally.

Medium difficulty hints, answers for August 27:

Greater Than (4): This space requires all pips in the tiles to be greater than 4. The solution is a single tile placed vertically, displaying pips 6-2.

Less Than (4): In this case, the sum of pips on each tile must be less than 4. The answer consists of two tiles: 3-1 placed horizontally, and 1-5 placed vertically.

Number (6): The total pips in each tile within this space must add up to 6. The answer is composed of two tiles: 3-1 placed horizontally and 3-5 placed horizontally.

Equal (5): All tiles in this space must show the same number of pips. The answer is two different tiles: 3-5 placed horizontally and 1-5 placed vertically.

Equal (2): Here, every tile in the space must have the same number of pips, which is 2. The answer is a combination of two tiles: 6-2 placed vertically and 4-2 placed horizontally.

Equal (2) (repeated): This condition is identical to the previous one and requires that all tiles show the number 2. The answer is a single tile: 2-2, placed horizontally.

Greater Than (6): This condition requires that all pips in the tiles be greater than 6. The answer is a single tile placed vertically, displaying pips 5-5.

Hard difficulty hints, answers for August 27:

Equal (4): In this space, every tile must have the same number of pips, and that number is 4. The answer is a single tile: 4-4, placed horizontally.

Number (7): The sum of pips on each tile must equal 7. The answer is made up of two tiles: 3-6 placed horizontally and 1-5 placed vertically.

Number (5): As with Number (7), the sum of pips on each tile must be 5. The answer consists of one tile: 5-3, placed horizontally.

Equal (5): This condition requires all tiles to show the same number of pips, which is 5. The answer is composed of two tiles: 5-3 placed horizontally and 1-5 placed vertically.

Equal (3): Here, all tiles must display the same number, which is 3. The answer includes four different tiles: 3-6, 5-3, 1-3, and 3-3, all placed horizontally and vertically.

Equal (5) (repeated): This condition is identical to the previous one and requires that all tiles show the number 5. The answer is a combination of two tiles: 1-5 placed vertically and 5-6 placed vertically.

Equal (1): In this challenge, every tile must display the number 1. The answer is a combination of two tiles: 1-3 placed horizontally and 1-6 placed horizontally.

Equal (6): All tiles in this space must show the number 6. The answer is a combination of three tiles: 1-6 placed horizontally, 6-6 placed vertically, and 5-6 placed vertically.

Number (6): The sum of pips on each tile in this space must equal 6. The answer is a combination of two tiles: 5-4 placed vertically and 2-0 placed vertically.

Number (8): The sum of pips on each tile in this space must equal 8. The answer is a combination of two tiles: 6-6 placed vertically and 2-4 placed vertically.

Number (0): In this case, the sum of pips on each tile must be 0. The answer is a combination of two tiles: 2-0 placed vertically and 0-3 placed horizontally.

Number (4): The sum of pips on each tile in this space must equal 4. The answer is a combination of two tiles: 0-3 placed horizontally and 1-2 placed horizontally.

Number (6) (repeated): This condition is identical to the previous one and requires that the sum of pips on each tile equals 6. The answer is a combination of two tiles: 1-2 placed horizontally and 2-4 placed vertically.