All About Pips, the New York Times’ Newest Game
The New York Times Games are something of an event. Crossword is the coolest game, of course, but the new games are now cult, too. Wordle , Connections , Strands — people of all ages and skill levels play these games. (I’m just not smart enough for Connections.)
The New York Times has released a brand new game: Pips . The name sounds simple and cute, but I have a feeling this game will be deceptively overwhelming.
What is Pips?
Pips is a domino logic game. (A pip is the black dot on a domino, which The New York Times famously featured in its Mini last week.) The goal is simple: get the dominoes into place. But the execution leaves much to be desired. There are several “zones” on the board to pay attention to, each with its own rule. The “number” zone means that the sum of the numbers on your dominoes must equal the corresponding number in the zone. For example, if the number is “2,” and there are two spaces in the zone, you can place two ends with one point. If there is only one space, you can place one end with two points.
The “equal” areas mean that the sum of the points in that area must be the same, while the “not equal” areas cannot give the same number. If there are two spaces in the “equal” area, you can place two dominoes containing four points each. The “less than” areas mean that the sum of the points must be less than the number in the area, while the “more than” areas have the opposite condition. If the sum of the points in the “less than” area is “7”, the sum of the points must not be more than six. Finally, there are empty areas. There are no rules here, so you can place any dominoes.
This is the first game from The New York Times to feature a drag-and-drop feature. You can tap each of the existing dominoes to rotate them, then tap and drag to move them into place. It works well, although I would recommend the development team add haptic feedback whenever you interact with the dominoes for an extra tactile effect.
Like other games, Pips is a daily challenge with three difficulty levels: easy, medium, and hard. When you first start Pips, you are given the option to play the tutorial or skip it. I would recommend playing it: this game is difficult to explain in text, so a much better way to learn is to play.
In my brief experience with the game, the easy puzzle seems relatively easy, while the hard one is really hard, offering the player larger playing fields with more complex arrangement of regions. If you try it, let me know in the comments what you think of it.