NYT Pips hints, answers for September 16, 2026

Welcome to your guide for Pips, the newest game from the New York Times, released in August 2025. This single-player game offers a fresh take on dominoes and can quickly become a go-to pastime. If you're stuck, here are piecemeal hints to help you navigate through each difficulty level without revealing the entire puzzle.

To play Pips, you'll be familiar with the basic dominoes rules. The tiles are placed vertically or horizontally and connect with each other. The main distinction from traditional dominoes is the color-coded conditions you need to meet. These conditions aren't always about matching numbers but rather fulfilling specific criteria based on the color-coded spaces.

For the easy level, you'll encounter conditions like "Greater Than (4)," which requires all pips in a space to be greater than 4, with the answer being 1-6 placed vertically. Or "Less Than (4)," where all pips must be less than 4, and the answer is 1-0 placed vertically. You'll also see "Equal (4)," where everything must be equal to 4, with the answer being 4-4 placed horizontally.

As you move to medium difficulty, you'll face challenges like "Greater Than (3)," asking all pips to be greater than 3, with the answer being 6-1 placed vertically. Or "Number (3)," requiring all pips in a space to add up to 3, with the answer being 3-1 placed horizontally.

Hard difficulty presents more complex conditions, such as "Number (11)," where all pips must add up to 11, with the answer being 3-5 placed horizontally and 5-6 placed vertically. Remember, the color-coded spaces dictate the specific conditions, and not all spaces are color-coded, meaning no conditions apply there.