NYT Pips hints, answers for October 20, 2026

Welcome to your guide for Pips, the latest addition to the New York Times' game collection, released in August 2025. This single-player game offers a fresh twist on dominoes. While the game currently only provides full puzzle solutions, we're here to help with piecemeal hints to guide you through each difficulty level.

To play Pips, you'll use vertically or horizontally placed tiles that connect with each other. The main difference from traditional dominoes is the color-coded conditions you must meet, which are specific to each space. If the space has no color coding, there are no conditions on the tiles within it.

Here are some common examples you'll encounter across the difficulty levels:

For 'Less Than' conditions, all the pips in that space must be less than the given number. For example, 'Less Than (2)' means everything in that space must be less than 2, with the answer being 0-3 placed vertically.

The 'Number' condition requires all the pips in that space to add up to the specified number. 'Number (7)' means every domino half in that space must add up to 7, with answers including 0-3 placed vertically and 4-3 placed vertically.

'Equal' conditions require every domino half in the space to have the same number of pips. 'Equal (3)' means everything in that space must be equal to 3, with answers being 1-3 placed horizontally and 4-3 placed vertically.

As you progress through the game, the difficulty increases. For 'Hard' difficulty hints, you'll need to meet 'Greater Than (8)', 'Number (3)', 'Number (5)', 'Number (0)', 'Number (8)', 'Greater Than (4)', 'Equal (5)', 'Equal (1)', 'Greater Than (4)', 'Greater Than (1)', 'Less Than (2)', 'Number (3)', and 'Greater Than (2)' conditions, with answers ranging from 4-5 placed horizontally to 3-3 placed vertically.