The weekend is chugging along as we race toward the end of the month. In fact, this is the last Sunday of February. Next Sunday is March 1st, and then just three weeks until spring. Be sure to check out my weekend streaming guide for TV and movie suggestions, and then grab your dominos. We have some Pips puzzles to solve!
Looking for Saturday’s Pips? Read our guide right here.
How To Play Pips
In Pips, you have a grid of multicolored boxes. Each colored area represents a different “condition” that you have to achieve. You have a select number of dominoes that you have to spend filling in the grid. You must use every domino and achieve every condition properly to win. There are Easy, Medium and Difficult tiers.
Here’s an example of a difficult tier Pips:
Pips example
Screenshot: Erik Kain
As you can see, the grid has a bunch of symbols and numbers with each color. On the far left, the three purple squares must not equal one another (hence the equal sign crossed out). The two pink squares next to that must equal a total of 0. The zig-zagging blue squares all must equal one another. You click on dominoes to rotate them, and will need to since they have to be rotated to fit where they belong.
Not shown on this grid are other conditions, such as “less than” or “greater than.” If there are multiple tiles with > or < signs, the total of those tiles must be greater or less than the listed number. It varies by grid. Blank spaces can have anything. The various possible conditions are:
- = All pips must equal one another in this group.
- ≠ All pips must not equal one another in this group.
- > The pip in this tile (or tiles) must be greater than the listed number.
- < The pip in this tile must be less than the listed number.
- An exact number (like 6) The pip must equal this exact number.
- Tiles with no conditions can be anything.
In order to win, you have to use up all your dominoes by filling in all the squares, making sure to fit each condition. Sometimes there’s only one way to solve the puzzle. Other times, there can be two or more different solutions. Play today’s Pips puzzle here.
Today’s Pips Solutions And Walkthrough
Below are the solutions for the Easy and Medium tier Pips. After that, I’ll walk you through the Hard puzzle. Spoilers ahead.
Today’s Easy Pips
Easy Pips
Screenshot: Erik Kain
Today’s Medium Pips
Medium Pips
Screenshot: Erik Kain
Hard Pips Walkthrough And Solution
Here’s today’s Hard Pips:
Hard Pips
Screenshot: Erik Kain
In the village, the peaceful village, the LION sleeps tonight. Today’s Hard Pips packs a mighty roar, though it’s not too hard if you just pay attention to your 6’s. This is actually a lot easier than the last couple Hard Pips, but still a nice challenge. The trick is realizing that you only have four 6’s, and so you’ll need to make one of the 9 groups with a 4/5 combo rather than a 3/6 combo. Once you have that, the rest falls into place quickly enough.
Step 1
Begin by placing the 1/6 domino in Dark Blue 1 up into Pink 9 and the 3/5 domino from Pink 9 into Purple 9. Then place the 1/4 domino from Green 1 into Orange 4 and the 4/6 domino from Orange 4 into Blue 12.
Hard Pips
Screenshot: Erik Kain
Step 2
Hop up to the “o” and place the 6/3 domino into Dark Blue 11 up into Blue = and the 3/1 domino from Blue = into Pink 1. The 0/2 domino goes from Pink 1 into Green 4 and the 2/5 domino wraps back around from Green 4 into Dark Blue 5.
Hard Pips
Screenshot: Erik Kain
Solution
Go back to the “N” and place the 5/0 domino from Purple 9 into the first free tile and the 6/5 domino from Blue 12 into the second free tile. Move to the “L” and place the 0/3 domino from Purple < 1 into Orange 3 and the 3/2 domino from Orange 3 into the third free tile. The 2/2 domino fills both the fourth and fifth free tile in the “I” and you’re done!
Hard Pips
Screenshot: Erik Kain
I always try to start at the most specific point possible. In this case, it’s the Dark Blue 1 tile up into Pink 9. The only domino that can work here is the 1/6, because the 1/3 would mean we’d have to pair that with the 6/3 up into Purple 9, and that would have us using too many 6’s. We wouldn’t have enough remaining for Blue 12 and Dark Blue 11. We needed the 1/6 so that we could pair it with the 3/4. All told, a fun and clever Hard Pips today. Now I feel like watching The Lion King.
How’d you do on today’s Pips? Let me know!
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