TodayHint

Pips October 5, 2026: Hints & Answers

Constructed by Ian Livengood, Rodolfo Kurchan, Rodolfo Kurchan, edited by Ian Livengood.

Recap

The easy board has simple sum constraints. The medium board adds equality and emptiness constraints. The hard board has many dominoes and complex constraints.

The three boards that day

The tray and each region's rule — board data, no solutions.

Easy board · 5 dominoes · 6 regions

4–34–50–12–36–3

  • two cells: exactly 4.
  • 2 ×two cells: exactly 9.
  • one cell: under 1.
  • one cell: exactly 3.
  • two cells: exactly 6.

Simple sum constraints.

Medium board · 7 dominoes · 11 regions

5–35–23–34–61–42–65–4

  • two cells: exactly 7.
  • one cell: under 5.
  • one cell: exactly 4.
  • one cell: under 6.
  • 3 ×one cell: left uncovered.
  • three cells: all matching.
  • one cell: more than 4.
  • one cell: under 2.
  • one cell: under 4.

More constraints and regions.

Hard board · 15 dominoes · 18 regions

0–15–06–12–46–34–42–62–20–60–23–33–21–33–00–0

  • 3 ×one cell: exactly 6.
  • three cells: exactly 1.
  • one cell: exactly 0.
  • 2 ×three cells: all matching.
  • 2 ×one cell: exactly 3.
  • two cells: exactly 8.
  • one cell: exactly 4.
  • two cells: exactly 1.
  • three cells: exactly 9.
  • 3 ×one cell: exactly 2.
  • one cell: exactly 1.
  • three cells: exactly 14.

Many dominoes and complex constraints.

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.

  1. How the three boards compared

    Sizes and constraint mixes, counted off the boards.

    Easy board
    5 dominoes, 6 regions (5 sum, 1 less)
    Medium board
    7 dominoes, 11 regions (4 less, 3 empty, 2 sum, 1 equals, 1 greater)
    Hard board
    15 dominoes, 18 regions (16 sum, 2 equals)
    Back to the board inventories
  2. Easy board: how to approach it

    Method only.

    Start by identifying regions with unique sum constraints.

  3. Easy board: where to start

    One region named by its constraint.

    Region with sum 3 over 1 cell.

  4. Medium board: approach and first region

    The same two steps, one difficulty up.

    Look for regions with equality and emptiness constraints.

    Region that must be empty.

  5. Hard board: how to approach it

    Where the hard board differed in kind, not just size.

    Focus on sum and equality constraints.

  6. Hard board: where to start

    The last rung before the full walkthroughs.

    Region with sum 1 over 3 cells.

    Open the full walkthroughs

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

    Place 4/3, then 0/1. Next, place 6/3 and 2/3 together. Place 4/5 last.

  • Medium board · 7 dominoes

    Medium board walkthrough

    Start with the empty region. Place 5/3 and 5/2. Continue with 4/6 and 1/4.

  • Hard board · 15 dominoes

    Hard board walkthrough

    Begin with sum 1 over 3 cells. Place 0/1 and 5/0. Continue with 6/1 and 2/4. Next, place 6/3 and 4/4. Then 2/6 and 2/2. Place 0/6 and 0/2. Continue with 3/3, 3/2, and 1/3. Finish with 3/0 and 0/0. Ensure all constraints are met.

Those boards by the numbers

Date
Monday, October 5, 2026
Boards
3 — easy, medium, hard
Dominoes in play
27 across the three boards
Easy board
5 dominoes · 6 regions
Medium board
7 dominoes · 11 regions
Hard board
15 dominoes · 18 regions

More Pips

See the live Pips hints and answers page for the current boards, or browse every archived Pips date by month.

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