NYT Pips hints, answers for October 18, 2026
The New York Times' latest game, Pips, brings domino fun to your desktop. How to play Pips as well as hints in case you get stuck.
Welcome to your guide for October 18, 2026, as you navigate Pips, the innovative domino-inspired puzzle game from The New York Times. Released in August 2025, Pips offers a fresh take on single-player gaming that can easily become your go-to daily pastime. For those moments when you find yourself stuck, rest assured, we've got you covered with hints that will guide you through each difficulty level.
To play Pips, reminiscent of traditional dominoes, you'll place tiles vertically or horizontally, allowing them to connect with one another. The twist? You must meet specific color-coded conditions based on the pips. For instance, if a space displays a single number, all pips in that area must sum to that number.
At the easy difficulty level, you'll encounter hints such as:
- Greater Than (3): The answer is 1-4, arranged horizontally.
- Number (5): The answer is 5-1, placed horizontally.
- Number (5): The answer is 1-4, placed horizontally, along with 1-6 vertically and 1-1 horizontally.
- Number (9): The solution is 1-6 vertically and 3-4 horizontally.
Moving to medium difficulty, you'll tackle challenges like:
- Greater Than (7): The answer is 5-3, vertically placed.
- Number (4): The solution is 4-4, vertically.
- Not Equal: The correct placements are 4-4 vertically, 5-2 vertically, and 3-6 vertically.
- Equal (2): The answer is 2-1 horizontally, 5-2 vertically, and 2-4 horizontally.
- Less Than (2): The answer is 2-1, horizontally.
- Less Than (5): The solution is 2-4, horizontally.
- Number (10): The answer is 6-4, vertically.
At the hard difficulty level, expect hints such as:
- Number (2): The answer is 2-0, horizontally.
- Less Than (2): The solution is 1-4, vertically.
- Less Than (9): The answer is 2-3 horizontally and 3-5 vertically.
- Number (5): The solution is 3-5 vertically.
- Number (9): The answer is 6-3, horizontally.
- Less Than (5): The solution is 1-3, vertically.
- Equal (6): The answer is 6-6 vertically and 6-2 horizontally.
- Number (12): The solution is 4-6 vertically and 2-2 horizontally.
- Equal (2): The answer is 6-2 horizontally, 2-2 horizontally, 2-1 vertically, 2-5 vertically, and 2-1 vertically.
- Less Than (2): The answer is 2-1, vertically.
- Greater Than (4): The solution is 2-5, vertically.
- Greater Than (7): The answer is 2-5, vertically.
- Number (3): The solution is 3-0, vertically.
For broader puzzle adventures, explore Mashable's games hub featuring games like Mahjong, Sudoku, and more.
Written by urgent.news from Mashable's reporting — not their text. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.
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