The New York Times' Newest Game: Pips

The New York Times has a new game on its app, called Pips. It was released on August 18, 2025 and the game has three modes: easy, medium, and hard.

The game starts with a number of dominoes on the bottom of the board. A player must fit the dominoes into the board while satisfying the specific criteria for each one with the number on each side of the domino, or pip (hence where the name comes from ). Each pip is 1-6, like a typical domino.

If there is a number written (like it would be the purple area in the photo with the 6 written near it) then the pips’ sum would have to equal 6, in this case 3 and 3.

Where there is an equal sign (an example would be the pink area in the photo above) all pips in that region must be the same number. Where there is a not equal to shown (≄) all pips can’t equal each other (for instance, 3 and 4 would work, not 3 and 3). However, if there is a blank space on the board, any number can go in that space.

Moreover, a rule that wasn’t mentioned was inequalities of a  number. For example, let’s say one of the criteria was < 4. This means the pips’ sum in that region must be less than 4. The same rule applies for greater than, just the pips’ sum in that region of the board must be greater than 4.

To conclude, these are all the rules of Pips, and to any players of other New York Times games, Pips is another really enjoyable game to test your brain every day. Have fun playing the newest member of the New York Times Games family!