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Need a nudge or the full solution for Friday, September 26, 2025? Start with the rules and the spoiler-free hint below, then open the walkthrough for the difficult board when you’re ready.
How NYT Pips works
Pips is a domino-placement puzzle: cover the grid with the available dominoes and satisfy the condition shown in each colored region. Conditions can require matching pip counts, different counts, a total above or below a number, an exact total, or no specific total in an unrestricted cell. Erik Kain’s September 25 Forbes guide describes the board as “a grid of multicolored boxes.”
Spoiler-free hint for September 26
On the difficult board, begin with the Purple 22 region. Its four cells must contain two sixes and two fives. Use that constraint to anchor the first placements, then work outward into neighboring regions.
Spoiler warning: difficult-board answer
The steps below reveal the full placement sequence for the difficult board. The Forbes guide presents easy and medium solutions as images, without transcribing their tile layouts, so exact placements for those tiers are not listed here.
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Walkthrough
- Fill the Purple 22 group with two sixes and two fives: place the 5/5 domino at the bottom, then place 6/0 so one end extends into the neighboring Pink equal-pips area, and 6/2 so one end reaches a free tile.
- Place 2/4 from Blue 2 into Pink =.
- Place 4/1 from Pink = into the Green <2 tile.
- Complete the lower-left Pink equal group with 4/3, extending the other end into Dark Blue ≠.
- Place 2/5 into Orange 2 and the free tile.
- Place 0/0 horizontally in the top-right Pink = group.
- Place 1/0 from Purple <2 into Pink =.
- Finish by placing 3/5 from the free tile into Dark Blue ≠, then 2/0 from the next free tile into Blue <2.
This sequence is the difficult-tier walkthrough reported by Erik Kain in the Forbes guide.
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- Fun for Everyone: Dominoes set for adults and kids designed for two to four players; perfect for family games, board games for adults, games for family night and screen-free entertainment
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