Pips October 14, 2026: Hints & Answers
The written hints below were assembled automatically from the board data rather than composed by an editor — accurate, just plainer than usual.
Recap
The three boards used 5 tiles on easy, 7 tiles on medium, 14 tiles on hard, with 5, 8, 16 regions respectively. This recap was assembled automatically from the puzzle data rather than written by an editor.
The three boards that day
The tray and each region's rule — board data, no solutions.
Easy board · 5 dominoes · 5 regions
Dominoes: 2–43–31–50–01–1
- one cell: left uncovered.
- two cells: all matching.
- two cells: exactly 9.
- three cells: all matching.
- two cells: under 6.
Auto-generated hint: the easy board uses 5 tiles and 5 regions.
Medium board · 7 dominoes · 8 regions
Dominoes: 4–43–40–05–10–61–06–3
- one cell: more than 3.
- 4 ×two cells: all matching.
- one cell: under 3.
- three cells: exactly 8.
- one cell: more than 4.
Auto-generated hint: the medium board uses 7 tiles and 8 regions.
Hard board · 14 dominoes · 16 regions
Dominoes: 2–64–06–15–61–10–51–32–36–63–30–65–12–44–4
- three cells: all different.
- one cell: exactly 0.
- 2 ×one cell: exactly 4.
- two cells: more than 7.
- two cells: all matching.
- three cells: exactly 9.
- three cells: all matching.
- one cell: exactly 3.
- three cells: exactly 14.
- one cell: under 4.
- two cells: under 3.
- one cell: more than 4.
- one cell: exactly 6.
- one cell: left uncovered.
- two cells: exactly 6.
Auto-generated hint: the hard board uses 14 tiles and 16 regions.
Pips hints, one rung at a time
Six rungs, easy board first. The recap above already named the walkthroughs, so this ladder is here for anyone replaying the boards fresh rather than as a spoiler shield.
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Hint 1: How the three boards compared
Sizes and constraint mixes, counted off the boards.
- Easy board
- 5 dominoes, 5 regions (2 equals, 1 empty, 1 less, 1 sum)
- Medium board
- 7 dominoes, 8 regions (4 equals, 2 greater, 1 less, 1 sum)
- Hard board
- 14 dominoes, 16 regions (8 sum, 2 equals, 2 greater, 2 less, 1 empty, 1 unequal)
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Hint 2: Easy board: how to approach it
Method only.
Auto-generated hint: count how many cells each region covers, then satisfy the tightest ones before the open ones. Regions that demand an exact total leave the fewest options, so every tile they rule out narrows their neighbours as well.
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Hint 3: Easy board: where to start
One region named by its constraint.
Auto-generated hint: start with the 2-cell region whose pips must add up to exactly 9, because very few pip values can satisfy it.
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Hint 4: Medium board: approach and first region
The same two steps, one difficulty up.
Auto-generated hint: count how many cells each region covers, then satisfy the tightest ones before the open ones. Regions that demand an exact total leave the fewest options, so every tile they rule out narrows their neighbours as well.
Auto-generated hint: start with the single-cell region whose pips must come to more than 3, because very few pip values can satisfy it.
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Hint 5: Hard board: how to approach it
Where the hard board differed in kind, not just size.
Auto-generated hint: count how many cells each region covers, then satisfy the tightest ones before the open ones. Regions that demand an exact total leave the fewest options, so every tile they rule out narrows their neighbours as well.
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Hint 6: Hard board: where to start
The last rung before the full walkthroughs.
Auto-generated hint: start with the single-cell region whose pips must add up to exactly 0, because very few pip values can satisfy it.
Every Pips walkthrough from that day
All three walkthroughs, folded: each one places every domino on its board, one after another.
Easy board · 5 dominoes
Easy board walkthrough
The full easy solution places the 2/4 tile at row 0 column 2 and row 1 column 2; the 3/3 tile at row 1 column 0 and row 2 column 0; the 1/5 tile at row 2 column 1 and row 1 column 1; the 0/0 tile at row 3 column 1 and row 4 column 1; the 1/1 tile at row 2 column 2 and row 3 column 2. Check each region total once every tile is down.
Medium board · 7 dominoes
Medium board walkthrough
The full medium solution places the 4/4 tile at row 1 column 4 and row 2 column 4; the 3/4 tile at row 0 column 1 and row 0 column 0; the 0/0 tile at row 0 column 3 and row 0 column 4; the 5/1 tile at row 2 column 2 and row 2 column 1; the 0/6 tile at row 2 column 3 and row 1 column 3; the 1/0 tile at row 1 column 1 and row 1 column 0; the 6/3 tile at row 1 column 2 and row 0 column 2. Check each region total once every tile is down.
Hard board · 14 dominoes
Hard board walkthrough
The full hard solution places the 2/6 tile at row 0 column 7 and row 1 column 7; the 4/0 tile at row 0 column 1 and row 0 column 2; the 6/1 tile at row 1 column 0 and row 0 column 0; the 5/6 tile at row 5 column 5 and row 5 column 6; the 1/1 tile at row 2 column 0 and row 3 column 0; the 0/5 tile at row 3 column 4 and row 2 column 4; the 1/3 tile at row 3 column 1 and row 3 column 2; the 2/3 tile at row 5 column 3 and row 5 column 2; the 6/6 tile at row 3 column 5 and row 3 column 6; the 3/3 tile at row 1 column 2 and row 2 column 2; the 0/6 tile at row 5 column 4 and row 6 column 4; the 5/1 tile at row 7 column 4 and row 8 column 4; the 2/4 tile at row 3 column 7 and row 2 column 7; the 4/4 tile at row 0 column 4 and row 1 column 4. Check each region total once every tile is down.
Those boards by the numbers
- Date
- Wednesday, October 14, 2026
- Boards
- 3 — easy, medium, hard
- Dominoes in play
- 26 across the three boards
- Easy board
- 5 dominoes · 5 regions
- Medium board
- 7 dominoes · 8 regions
- Hard board
- 14 dominoes · 16 regions
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