NYT Pips hints, answers for September 17, 2026

The New York Times released the game Pips in August 2025, offering a unique twist on the classic dominoes game with color-coded conditions for players to meet. For players who get stuck, piecemeal answers provide hints for each difficulty level. On the easy difficulty, the number condition requires the pips to add up to a specific value, such as 2 or 7, while the equal condition requires all domino halves to have the same number of pips.

Medium difficulty introduces the less than and greater than conditions, while the hard difficulty includes more complex requirements, like equal numbers and not equal pips. Overall, the game offers a fun, single-player experience that becomes more challenging as players progress through the difficulty levels.