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Today's NYT Pips Answers
August 16, 2026

Pips deals you a rack of dominoes and a board of regions, each with its own rule. All three difficulties for August 16, 2026 are solved below, from the friendly Easy board to the Hard one. Nothing spoils until you tap.

3 boards 26 dominoes total Edited by Ian LivengoodPlay on NYT ↗
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Hints, one at a time

Pips for August 16, 2026 is live with its usual three boards. Place every domino so each shaded region obeys its rule: sums must hit their number, equals regions must match, and the comparison cells cap a single pip.

The hints below stay one step short of the answer. Every solution further down keeps its pip values blurred inside the olive box until you press the button, so scroll freely.

Start gentle and stop as soon as a placement clicks.

1 Where to start on EasyWhich cells can you lock in immediately? Easy has 1 single-cell sum region. A one-cell region's rule names its pip outright, so place those halves first and build outward.
2 The Medium boardWhat are you up against? 8 dominoes across 7 regions. The biggest sum target is 7; big targets need big pips, so count how many high halves your rack actually has.
3 The Hard boardAnd the main event? 13 dominoes across 18 regions, biggest sum target 9. Work the corners and dead-end cells first: fewer neighbors means fewer legal placements.
4 Count your doublesWhich dominoes are the least flexible? Doubles today: 1 in Easy, 2 in Medium, 4 in Hard. A double reads the same both ways, which makes it the safest tile to commit inside an equals region.
5 The rule that unlocks the restStuck with everything half-placed? Extreme rules do the most work. A < cell rules out every high half and a big sum rules out every low one, so revisit those regions each time you place a domino. Each placement shrinks what the rest can be.

Easy: 5 dominoes, 6 regions

Your easy rack today: 6-4, 4-5, 0-6, 5-2, 3-3. Constructed by Ian Livengood.

Easy solution

Spoiler below · tap to reveal

Shaded blocks are the board's regions. The small corner mark is each region's rule: a number is the sum its pips must reach, = means all pips match, and < or > cap a single cell.

5 dominoes placed. The pip values stay blurred until you press the button.

Medium: 8 dominoes, 7 regions

Your medium rack today: 5-0, 0-4, 5-5, 5-1, 2-0, 4-3, 3-3, 3-0. Constructed by Ian Livengood.

Medium solution

Spoiler below · tap to reveal

Shaded blocks are the board's regions. The small corner mark is each region's rule: a number is the sum its pips must reach, = means all pips match, and < or > cap a single cell.

8 dominoes placed. The pip values stay blurred until you press the button.

Hard: 13 dominoes, 18 regions

Your hard rack today: 0-2, 0-4, 0-5, 1-1, 1-2, 1-4, 1-5, 2-6, 3-3, 3-4, 4-4, 5-5, 5-6. Constructed by Rodolfo Kurchan.

Hard solution

Spoiler below · tap to reveal

Shaded blocks are the board's regions. The small corner mark is each region's rule: a number is the sum its pips must reach, = means all pips match, and < or > cap a single cell.

13 dominoes placed. The pip values stay blurred until you press the button.

Pips strategy that actually helps

Habits that carry over from board to board.

Solve rules, not spaces

Read every region's rule before placing anything. The board is a set of constraints wearing a grid costume.

Extremes first

Cells demanding a 0 or a 6, or capped by a comparison, accept very few domino halves. Lock them in early.

Count the rack

If a region needs a sum of 12 from two cells, you need two sixes. Check whether your rack even has them before committing elsewhere.

Dead ends are friends

A cell with one open neighbor can only be covered one way. Corners and corridors give free placements.

Pips, answered

What is NYT Pips?

Pips is the New York Times' dominoes logic puzzle. You place a given set of dominoes on a board so that every region satisfies its rule: reaching a sum, matching pips, or staying under or over a value. Each day brings an Easy, Medium, and Hard board.

When does a new Pips come out?

Pips resets daily along with the other NYT games. This page updates within minutes of the reset, so if the date above matches today, these solutions are current.

Is there only one solution?

The boards are constructed to have a unique solution. The grids shown here are the official ones from the puzzle data.

Do the three boards share dominoes?

No. Each difficulty is its own board with its own rack, which is why we list all three separately with their own reveal.

Today's hints for every game

Same spoiler-safe format, for each daily puzzle we cover.

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