NYT Pips is the New York Times’ domino-style daily puzzle, released in August 2025. Each day it challenges you across three difficulty levels — Easy, Medium, and Hard — and the only in-game help available is a full puzzle reveal, which forces you to skip ahead. This guide gives you piecemeal hints and full answers for every condition space in today’s puzzle so you can stay in control.
What Is NYT Pips?
Pips puts a modern spin on dominoes. You place tiles either horizontally or vertically to fill a grid, but unlike classic dominoes, matching numbers on adjacent tiles is not required. Instead, the board contains color-coded condition zones that dictate the rules for any tile portion within them.
The condition types you will encounter are: Number (all pips in the zone must sum to the given number), Equal (every domino half in the zone must show the same pip count), Not Equal (every domino half must show a different pip count), Less Than (each half must be below the given number), and Greater Than (each half must exceed the number). Spaces with no color coding have no restrictions at all.
Easy Difficulty — April 7, 2026 Pips Hints and Answers
Today’s Easy puzzle has four condition zones. Work through them in order and the layout falls into place quickly.
- Number (4): All pips in this space must add up to 4. Place tile 4-6 horizontally.
- Equal (6): Every domino half here must equal 6. Place tiles 4-6 horizontally and 6-0 horizontally.
- Equal (4): Every domino half here must equal 4. Place tile 4-4 horizontally.
- Number (3): All pips in this purple space must sum to 3. Place tiles 1-1 horizontally and 1-6 horizontally.
Medium Difficulty — April 7, 2026 Pips Hints and Answers
The Medium board introduces Less Than conditions and requires more tiles to satisfy multiple overlapping zones. Read each condition carefully before placing.
- Number (4) [red]: Must sum to 4. Place 1-1 horizontally and 2-2 horizontally.
- Less Than (3): Each half must be below 3. Place 2-2 horizontally and 0-4 vertically.
- Number (7) [orange]: Must sum to 7. Place 6-3 horizontally and 1-2 vertically.
- Equal (3): Each half must equal 3. Place 6-3 horizontally and 3-5 vertically.
- Less Than (7): Each half must be below 7. Place 2-5 vertically and 0-4 vertically.
- Number (2): Must sum to 2. Place 1-2 vertically.
- Equal (5): Each half must equal 5. Place 3-5 vertically, 2-5 vertically, and 5-4 horizontally.
- Number (4) [red]: Must sum to 4. Place 5-4 horizontally.
Hard Difficulty — April 7, 2026 Pips Hints and Answers
The Hard puzzle has the largest number of condition zones and several Number (0) spaces, which are easy to trip up on. Any tile half in a zero-sum zone must show no pips at all. Take it slowly.
- Number (4): Place 2-0 vertically and 2-1 vertically.
- Number (2): Place 3-1 horizontally and 1-4 horizontally.
- Number (1): Place 2-1 vertically.
- Number (6): Place 3-1 horizontally and 3-0 vertically.
- Number (0): Place 5-0 horizontally.
- Number (8): Place 1-4 horizontally and 4-2 vertically.
- Number (0): Place 2-0 vertically and 0-4 horizontally.
- Number (0): Place 3-0 vertically.
- Number (10): Place 5-3 vertically.
- Number (4): Place 2-3 vertically and 4-2 vertically.
- Number (2): Place 2-5 vertically.
- Number (8): Place 0-4 horizontally and 4-3 horizontally.
- Equal (3): Each half must equal 3. Place 4-3 horizontally, 5-3 vertically, and 2-3 vertically.
- Number (10): Place 2-5 vertically and 5-1 horizontally.
- Number (2): Place 5-1 horizontally and 1-0 horizontally.
- Number (0): Place 1-0 horizontally.
- Number (9): Place 5-4 vertically.
Tips for Solving NYT Pips Faster
Start with the most constrained zones. Number (0) and Equal spaces have the fewest valid tile combinations, so solving them first eliminates options for the rest of the board. In today’s Hard puzzle, the three Number (0) zones are a good anchor point.
Track which tiles are already used. Pips uses a limited set of domino tiles, and each tile appears only once. If 4-6 is placed in the Easy grid, it cannot appear again — use this to rule out options in neighboring zones.
Think about halves, not whole tiles. Many conditions apply to only one end of a tile (when just half of it falls inside a color zone). Always check which half is inside the boundary before deciding if a placement satisfies the condition.
About NYT Pips
Pips launched in August 2025 as part of the New York Times Games portfolio, joining titles like Wordle, Connections, and Strands. It draws on the centuries-old mechanics of dominoes but transforms the game into a solo logic puzzle with a fresh color-coded condition system. The game resets daily across three difficulty tiers, and the Hard level in particular has grown a dedicated following among players who enjoy number-logic challenges. Like the other NYT Games titles, Pips is accessible through the NYT Games app and website.
More NYT Pips Answers
Looking for answers from previous days? Here are the three most recent Pips guides on dotwordle.com:
- March 30, 2026 NYT Pips Hints and Answers — Easy, Medium, and Hard Solutions
- March 27, 2026 NYT Pips Hints and Answers — Easy, Medium, and Hard Solutions
- March 24, 2026 NYT Pips Hints and Answers — Easy, Medium, and Hard
Need help with other daily puzzles? Check out today’s other guides:
- April 6, 2026 Wordle #1752 Hint and Answer
- April 6, 2026 NYT Connections Puzzle #1030 Hints and Answers
- “Outer Limits” April 6, 2026 NYT Strands Hints and Answers
Shahid Maqsood is a digital entrepreneur and SEO specialist focused on building engaging web experiences. He is the creator of DotWordle, combining creativity with smart, user-friendly design.
