Entertainment,NYT GamesJAN 28, 2026

NYT Pips Hints, Answers For 28-January-2026

NYT Pips is a quick-thinking logic puzzle built around domino tiles and color-coded rules.

Each weekday brings a new set of Easy, Medium, and Hard boards that ask you to line up pips so every region meets its requirement.

If something isn't clicking today, try gentle hints below before jumping into the full solutions for all three boards.

How Pips Works

Pips takes standard domino tiles and drops them into color-coded regions, each with its own condition.

Every half-tile counts, and the goal is to fill the board so each zone follows its rule.

You'll run into a few core types:

Number: The pips in that region must add up to the target.
Equal: All tile halves show the same value.
Not Equal: Every value is different.
Less Than / Greater Than: The region total must stay under or above the shown number.

The rules stay the same across all three boards. What changes is how tightly they're arranged.

A good first step is to solve strict Number or Equal zones before moving on to the flexible ones.

Full Answers

Easy

Number (5): Everything in this space must add up to 5.

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The answer is 5-5, placed horizontally; 0-2, placed horizontally.
Equal: Everything in this space must be equal.

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The answer is 5-1, placed horizontally; 5-5, placed horizontally.
Number (4): Everything in this space must add up to 4.

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The answer is 4-1, placed vertically.
Equal: Everything in this space must be equal.

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The answer is 5-1, placed horizontally; 4-1, placed vertically.
Number (8): Everything in this space must add up to 8.

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The answer is 4-4, placed horizontally.

Medium

Number (3): Everything in this space must add up to 3.

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The answer is 3-4, placed vertically.
Equal: Everything in this space must be equal.

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The answer is 5-3, placed horizontally; 4-5, placed vertically.
Number (3): Everything in this space must add up to 3.

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The answer is 5-3, placed horizontally.
Number (9): Everything in this space must add up to 9.

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The answer is 5-2, placed horizontally; 3-4, placed vertically.
Greater Than (2): Everything in this space must be greater than 2.

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The answer is 5-2, placed horizontally; 6-6, placed vertically.
Greater Than (5): Everything in this space must be greater than 5.

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The answer is 0-6, placed vertically.
Number (4): Everything in this space must add up to 4.

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The answer is 4-5, placed vertically.
Equal: Everything in this space must be equal.

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The answer is 1-1, placed horizontally.

Hard

Number (3): Everything in this space must add up to 3.

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The answer is 4-3, placed vertically.
Number (5): Everything in this space must add up to 5.

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The answer is 3-0, placed horizontally; 5-1, placed vertically.
Number (5): Everything in this space must add up to 5.

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The answer is 3-0, placed horizontally; 2-6, placed vertically.
Equal: Everything in this space must be equal.

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The answer is 4-3, placed vertically; 4-2, placed vertically.
Number (2): Everything in this space must add up to 2.

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The answer is 1-1, placed vertically; 5-1, placed vertically.
Greater Than (10): Everything in this space must be greater than 10.

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The answer is 5-0, placed vertically; 2-6, placed vertically.
Unequal: Special constraint.

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The answer is 1-1, placed vertically; 2-5, placed horizontally; 0-0, placed horizontally.
Less Than (2): Everything in this space must be less than 2.

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The answer is 5-0, placed vertically; 0-0, placed horizontally.

Tip: Use the more complex rules backward; fill in tricky zones first, then wrap the remaining dominoes into the free space.