🧠 Core Principles

Before diving into specific tactics, remember these core principles for every puzzle:

Think in Constraints: Pips is a game of elimination. Every domino you place restricts the possibilities for all other dominoes. Your goal is to find the most restrictive areas first. You can see this principle in action in our walkthrough for Sep 1, 2025
Work from Certainty to Possibility: Always make the moves you are 100% sure about before exploring moves that have multiple options.
Every Pip Matters: A single pip (dot) can be the key. Pay close attention to how dominoes interact across the borders of different colored regions.

🚀 Beginner Strategies: Your Starting Points

Every puzzle has an entry point. Use these strategies to make your first crucial moves.

🎯

Find the "Forced" Move

Scan the board for regions with extreme rules. A "Sum = 0" or "Sum = 12" region has very few (or only one) possible domino combinations. An "Equal (=)" region in a 2x1 space must be a double domino. These are your anchors.

🔢

Count Your Pips

Look at your available dominoes. Do you have a lot of high numbers (5s, 6s) or low numbers (0s, 1s)? This can give you a clue about which dominoes are likely to go into "Greater Than" or "Less Than" regions.

🧩

Test with Doubles

Double dominoes (like [4,4]) are unique. They are often the key to solving "Equal (=)" regions or can be quickly eliminated from "Not Equal (≠)" regions. Mentally "place" them first to see what possibilities they open or close.

📈 Intermediate Tactics: Making Connections

Once you've made the obvious moves, use these tactics to uncover the hidden logic.

⛓️

Chain Reactions

Focus on a single square that belongs to two different regions (an intersection). The domino half placed there must satisfy both rules simultaneously. Solving this one square can often cause a chain reaction, solving several adjacent squares.

🚫

Negative Logic

Instead of asking "What can go here?", ask "What *cannot* go here?". For example, in a "Not Equal" region, if you know a 3 and a 4 are already present, you can eliminate all other dominoes containing a 3 or 4 from being placed there.

🏆 Advanced Techniques: Solving the Unsolvable

For the hardest puzzles, you'll need to think globally about the entire board.

⚖️

Total Pip Count

In rare cases, you can sum the pips on all your available dominoes. Then, look at the board's regions. If a large region has a fixed sum (e.g., "Sum = 25"), you can deduce the total sum of pips required for the *rest* of the board, which can reveal surprising constraints.

🔄

If/Then Scenarios

When you're truly stuck with two possibilities for a key area, mentally follow one path. Say "If I place the [2,5] here, then this other region *must* be..." Follow the logic until you either solve the puzzle or hit a contradiction. If you find a contradiction, you know your initial assumption was wrong.

❌ Common Mistakes to Avoid

Even experienced players can fall into common traps. Watch out for these pitfalls to improve your consistency.

🤔

Guessing Too Early

When you're not 100% sure, don't guess. A single wrong guess can cascade into an unsolvable board. Always rely on pure logic and elimination first. Use 'If/Then' scenarios only as a last resort.

👀

Forgetting Used Dominoes

It's easy to lose track of which dominoes you've already placed. Keep the list of available dominoes visible and mentally (or physically) cross them off as you place them on the board.

Ready to Practice?

The best way to become a master solver is to practice. Apply these strategies to today's puzzle and see the difference!

Solve Today's Puzzle

Ultimate NYT Pips Strategy Guide