Pips Hints for October 21, 2026
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 teal square marked more than 4 and the blue square marked less than 1. With the dominoes you have, each one can hold only one number, so they anchor everything around them.
Hint 2 · A first domino
The double 6 lies flat, one half in the pink region marked 10 and the other in the teal square marked more than 4.
Hint 3 · Halfway there
The 1–0 domino lies flat with its 1 on an unmarked square and its 0 in the blue square marked less than 1. The 4–0 domino lies flat with its 4 in the purple region marked 10 and its 0 on an unmarked square. With these and the first one in place, the rest follows from the markings.
Show the solved Easy board
Medium
Hint 1 · Where to start
Start with the green square marked 6. With the dominoes you have, it can hold only one number, so it is settled before you place anything else.
Hint 2 · A first domino
The 2–6 domino lies flat with its 2 in the blue region marked more than 5 and its 6 in the green square marked 6.
Hint 3 · Halfway there
The 2–5 domino lies flat with its 2 in the pink region marked ≠ and its 5 in the purple square marked more than 4. The double 1 lies flat inside the teal region marked =. The 1–5 domino lies flat with its 1 on an unmarked square and its 5 in the orange region marked more than 7. With these and the first one in place, the rest follows from the markings.
Show the solved Medium 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.
Hard
Hint 1 · Where to start
Start with the pink region marked 0 and the orange square marked 5 in the top row. With the dominoes you have, each one allows only one set of numbers, so they anchor everything around them.
Hint 2 · A first domino
The 2–5 domino lies flat with its 2 in the blue square marked more than 1 and its 5 in the orange square marked 5 in the top row.
Hint 3 · Halfway there
The double 0 stands upright inside the pink region marked 0. The double 2 stands upright, one half in the purple square marked less than 3 and the other in the green square marked 2. The 1–4 domino stands upright with its 1 in the teal square marked 1 and its 4 in the pink square marked more than 3. The double 4 lies flat inside the teal region marked =. The 5–4 domino stands upright with its 5 in the purple square marked 5 and its 4 in 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 16 different ways, and Pips accepts any board where every marking is satisfied. This is the one we played.
Pips hints, day by day
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.