NYT Pips Hints and Answers for September 30, 2026

How to Play Pips

Pips is a daily puzzle from The New York Times that adapts the familiar mechanics of dominoes into a single-player logic game. Players place domino tiles horizontally or vertically so they connect with one another, but touching tiles do not necessarily need to match.

The main challenge comes from the color-coded spaces on the board. Each colored area has a condition that the domino halves within it must satisfy. In some cases, only one half of a domino falls inside a colored space, so players must assess each individual portion rather than automatically treating every tile as a whole.

A numbered space requires all pips within that space to add up to the displayed number. An Equal space requires every domino half to show the same number of pips, while a Not Equal space requires every domino half to show a different number. Less than and Greater than spaces require the total or values within the area to fall below or above the stated number, respectively. Areas without color coding have no conditions for the domino portions placed there.

Pips Answers and Hints for September 30, 2026

Easy Difficulty

• Number (1): Everything in this space must add up to 1. Place 1-3 horizontally.
• Number (1): Everything in this space must add up to 1. Place 1-5 horizontally and 6-0 horizontally.
• Equal (6): Everything in this space must be equal to 6. Place 6-0 horizontally and 6-6 horizontally.
• Number (10): Everything in this space must add up to 10. Place 1-5 horizontally and 4-5 horizontally.

Medium Difficulty

• Number (11): Everything in this space must add up to 11. Place 5-3 vertically and 3-2 horizontally.
• Less than (2): Everything in this space must be less than 2. Place 1-4 vertically.
• Not Equal: Everything in this space must be different. Place 6-4 horizontally, 1-4 vertically, and 5-2 vertically.
• Less than (8): Everything in this space must be less than 8. Place 6-4 horizontally and 2-1 horizontally.
• Number (2): Everything in this space must add up to 2. Place 3-2 horizontally.
• Equal (4): Everything in this space must be equal to 4. Place 5-2 vertically and 2-2 horizontally.

Hard Difficulty

• Number (6): Everything in this space must add up to 6. Place 4-2 horizontally and 4-3 horizontally.
• Number (3): Everything in this space must add up to 3. Place 4-3 horizontally and 0-0 horizontally.
• Equal (4): Everything in this space must be equal to 4. Place 4-2 horizontally, 4-4 vertically, and 4-1 horizontally.
• Number (9): Everything in this space must add up to 9. Place 4-4 vertically and 5-1 horizontally.
• Number (2): Everything in this space must add up to 2. Place 4-1 horizontally and 5-1 horizontally.
• Number (22): Everything in this space must add up to 22. Place 4-6 horizontally, 6-5 vertically, and 6-2 vertically.
• Less than (1): Everything in this space must be less than 1. Place 4-0 horizontally.
• Greater Than (4): Everything in this space must be greater than 4. Place 6-5 vertically.
• Number (9): Everything in this space must add up to 9. Place 4-0 horizontally and 5-4 horizontally.
• Greater Than (4): Everything in this space must be greater than 4. Place 5-2 horizontally.
• Not Equal: Everything in this space must be different. Place 3-1 horizontally and 3-2 horizontally.
• Number (2): Everything in this space must add up to 2. Place 3-2 horizontally.
• Equal (2): Everything in this space must be equal to 2. Place 6-2 vertically, 5-2 horizontally, and 2-2 vertically.

Why This Matters

Pips gives The New York Times’ puzzle catalog a distinct dominoes-based format, requiring players to combine spatial placement with numerical deduction. Its color-coded conditions create a different solving process from traditional dominoes, while the multiple difficulty levels allow the same daily game to serve both casual players and experienced puzzle solvers.

At present, players who get stuck are offered the option to reveal the entire puzzle, which means they must move to the next difficulty level and start over if they want to continue solving independently. Step-by-step placement hints provide an alternative by revealing the answers incrementally instead of exposing the complete board at once.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is Pips?

Pips is a single-player puzzle in The New York Times’ game catalog. It is inspired by dominoes but uses color-coded spaces with numerical and comparison-based conditions.

Do touching domino tiles have to match in Pips?

No. Connecting tiles do not necessarily have to match. The required relationships are determined by the conditions in the colored spaces.

What are the September 30, 2026 Pips difficulty levels?

The puzzle has Easy, Medium, and Hard difficulty levels. The hints above list the required domino placements for the conditions provided at each level.