Welcome, puzzle enthusiasts, to your essential daily guide for Pips, the New York Times’ captivating new addition to its gaming roster. Launched in August 2025, Pips offers a fresh and engaging twist on the classic game of dominoes, quickly becoming a must-solve for many seeking a daily mental workout.
Unlike many other puzzles, Pips currently presents a unique challenge when you find yourself stuck: the game’s only built-in assistance is to reveal the entire solution, forcing you to abandon your current attempt and restart at a new difficulty. But fear not! We’ve meticulously compiled a comprehensive list of piecemeal hints and answers for June 18, 2026, designed to gently nudge you towards success without spoiling the entire experience.
Understanding Pips: A Modern Domino Challenge
At its core, Pips draws inspiration from the familiar mechanics of dominoes. Tiles are placed either vertically or horizontally, connecting to form a grid. However, Pips introduces an innovative layer of complexity through its color-coded conditions. Unlike traditional dominoes where matching numbers are key, Pips challenges you to satisfy specific criteria within designated colored spaces.
It’s crucial to note that the conditions apply to the individual ‘halves’ of a domino tile that fall within a colored space. A single tile might span multiple colored areas, or only half a tile might be subject to a condition.
Key Pips Conditions Explained:
- Number: The sum of all pips within this space must precisely match the given number.
- Equal: Every domino half situated in this space must display the same number of pips.
- Not Equal: Conversely, every domino half in this space must feature a distinctly different number of pips from the others.
- Less Than: The sum of pips on each domino half within this space must be less than the specified number.
- Greater Than: The sum of pips on each domino half within this space must exceed the specified number.
If a section of the puzzle lacks any color coding, it signifies that there are no specific conditions governing the domino portions placed within that area.
NYT Pips Hints & Answers for June 18, 2026
Easy Difficulty Solutions:
- Greater Than (2): All pips in this space must be greater than 2. Solution: 1-6, placed horizontally.
- Greater Than (2): All pips in this space must be greater than 2. Solution: 4-5, placed horizontally.
- Number (5): All pips in this space must add up to 5. Solution: 4-5, placed horizontally.
- Equal (1): All pips in this space must be equal to 1. Solution: 1-6, placed horizontally; 1-3, placed horizontally.
- Equal (3): All pips in this space must be equal to 3. Solution: 6-5, placed horizontally.
- Number (5): All pips in this space must add up to 5. Solution: 6-5, placed horizontally.
Medium Difficulty Solutions:
- Number (7): All pips in this space must add up to 7. Solution: 1-3, placed vertically; 4-4, placed vertically.
- Number (9): All pips in this space must add up to 9. Solution: 4-4, placed vertically; 5-3, placed vertically.
- Greater Than (4): All pips in this space must be greater than 4. Solution: 2-6, placed vertically.
- Number (8): All pips in this space must add up to 8. Solution: 5-3, placed vertically; 2-6, placed vertically; 3-3, placed vertically.
- Number (8): All pips in this space must add up to 8. Solution: 3-3, placed vertically; 0-5, placed vertically.
- Number (1): All pips in this space must add up to 1. Solution: 0-5, placed vertically; 2-1, placed vertically.
Hard Difficulty Solutions:
- Equal (3): All pips in this space must be equal to 3. Solution: 3-4, placed horizontally; 3-6, placed horizontally.
- Less Than (3): All pips in this space must be less than 3. Solution: 2-0, placed vertically.
- Number (10): All pips in this space must add up to 10. Solution: 3-4, placed horizontally; 6-5, placed vertically.
- Greater Than (10): All pips in this space must be greater than 10. Solution: 3-6, placed horizontally; 6-5, placed vertically.
- Equal (0): All pips in this space must be equal to 0. Solution: 0-5, placed vertically; 0-0, placed horizontally; 0-3, placed horizontally.
- Less Than (4): All pips in this space must be less than 4. Solution: 0-3, placed horizontally.
- Less Than (3): All pips in this space must be less than 3. Solution: 1-0, placed horizontally.
- Number (6): All pips in this space must add up to 6. Solution: 0-5, placed vertically; 1-4, placed vertically.
- Equal (2): All pips in this space must be equal to 2. Solution: 2-2, placed horizontally; 2-6, placed vertically; 2-1, placed horizontally; 2-5, placed horizontally.
- Greater Than (4): All pips in this space must be greater than 4. Solution: 2-5, placed horizontally.
- Equal (1): All pips in this space must be equal to 1. Solution: 2-1, placed horizontally; 1-0, placed horizontally; 1-5, placed vertically.
With these hints at your disposal, you’re now equipped to conquer today’s Pips puzzle without resorting to a full reveal. Good luck, and happy puzzling!
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