NYT Pips Reveals January 3, 2026 Hints and Solutions

El-Balad presents a comprehensive guide to the game Pips, a fresh addition to the New York Times gaming portfolio. Launched in August 2025, Pips innovatively utilizes a domino format, catering to solo players. While the game features a challenging mode, which sometimes requires revealing the entire puzzle, our guide offers valuable hints to help players progress through varying difficulty levels.

Understanding Pips Gameplay

Pips shares foundational gameplay elements with traditional dominoes. Players arrange colored tiles either vertically or horizontally, connecting them according to specific rules. Unlike standard dominoes, Pips introduces color-coded conditions that dictate how tiles interact. Players must follow these conditions to complete each space efficiently.

Color-Coded Conditions

The game features different conditions based on the color of the spaces. Here’s how they are categorized:

• Number: The total of all pips in a space must equal the specified number.
• Equal: Each half of the domino in that section must show the same number of pips.
• Not Equal: All halves must display different numbers of pips.
• Less Than: The total must be less than the designated number.
• Greater Than: The total must exceed the specified number.

Spaces without color coding impose no specific conditions on the domino halves.

Hints for January 3, 2026

To aid players on January 3, 2026, we’ve compiled hints for various difficulty levels of Pips.

Easy Difficulty

• Greater Than (1): Place 2-6 horizontally.
• Equal (6): Arrangements 2-6 and 6-4 horizontally.
• Number (7): Use 6-4 and 3-1 horizontally.
• Less Than (1): Position 0-3 horizontally.
• Number (5): Position 5-4 horizontally.
• Equal (4): Use 5-4 and 4-4 horizontally.

Medium Difficulty

• Greater Than (2): Use 2-1, placed vertically.
• Greater Than (4): Position 4-1, vertically.
• Equal (1): Arrangements include 1-0, 2-1, 1-5, and 4-1 vertically.
• Equal (0): Use 1-0 and 5-0, placing them vertically and horizontally.
• Equal (5): Positions include 5-2, 1-5, and 5-3.

Hard Difficulty

• Number (10): Positions include 6-1 (horizontal) and 4-5 (vertical).
• Greater Than (0): Use 6-1, placed horizontally.
• Number (10): Arrangements in multiple color-coded spaces include variations like 2-6 and 4-0.
• Number (2): Position 4-0 (horizontal) and 1-1 (vertical).
• Not Equal: Use 3-1 and 0-1 in applicable orientations.

Pips combines classic gaming elements with modern twists, making it an engaging choice for puzzle enthusiasts. For additional games and puzzles, explore El-Balad’s gaming hub, featuring Sudoku, Mahjong, and more.