Pips Hints for Today
Three boards, three sets of hints: Easy, Medium and Hard. Each one starts with where to begin, then places a domino or two — the solved board stays hidden until you tap for it.
Easy
Hint 1 · Where to start
Start with the blue region marked =. It is the tightest spot on the board: only two combinations of numbers fit there, so try those first and let the neighbors follow.
Hint 2 · A first domino
The double 1 lies flat inside the blue region marked =.
Hint 3 · Halfway there
The 4–1 domino lies flat with its 4 on an unmarked square and its 1 in the blue region marked =. The 3–4 domino stands upright with its 3 in the orange region marked = and its 4 in the pink region marked 7. With these and the first one in place, the rest follows from the markings.
Show the solved Easy board
This board can be finished in two different ways, and Pips accepts any board where every marking is satisfied. This is the one we played.
Medium
Hint 1 · Where to start
Start with the pink square marked 6 and the teal square marked 0. With the dominoes you have, each one can hold only one number, so they anchor everything around them.
Hint 2 · A first domino
The 2–6 domino lies flat with its 2 in the purple region marked 5 and its 6 in the pink square marked 6.
Hint 3 · Halfway there
The 2–0 domino lies flat with its 2 on an unmarked square and its 0 in the teal square marked 0. The 1–3 domino lies flat with its 1 in the orange region marked 7 and its 3 in the purple region marked 5. The 4–3 domino lies flat with its 4 on an unmarked square and its 3 in the orange region marked 7. With these and the first one in place, the rest follows from the markings.
Show the solved Medium board
Hard
Hint 1 · Where to start
Start with the purple square marked 3 in the top row and the orange square marked 5. With the dominoes you have, each one can hold only one number, so they anchor everything around them.
Hint 2 · A first domino
The 5–3 domino stands upright with its 5 in the orange square marked 5 and its 3 in the purple square marked 3 in the top row.
Hint 3 · Halfway there
The 6–5 domino stands upright with its 6 in the teal square marked more than 4 and its 5 in the blue region marked =. The 6–2 domino stands upright with its 6 in the green square marked more than 2 and its 2 on an unmarked square. The 0–4 domino lies flat with its 0 in the pink square marked 0 and its 4 in the purple region marked 8. The double 5 stands upright inside the blue region marked =. The double 1 stands upright inside the teal region marked =. With these and the first one in place, the rest follows from the markings.
Show the solved Hard board
This board can be finished in eight different ways, and Pips accepts any board where every marking is satisfied. This is the one we played.
How our Pips hints work
Hint 1 shows where to begin
The square or region that allows the fewest numbers. Most boards fall into place from there.
Hints 2 and 3 place dominoes
First one domino, then about half of them, and only dominoes that sit the same way in every correct solution.
The answer is the board we played
We play all three boards every day. When a board can be finished more than one way, we say so, because Pips accepts any board that meets every marking.