Welcome to your guide to Pips, the latest game in the New York Times catalogue.

Released in August 2025, the Pips puts a unique spin on dominoes, creating a fun single-player experience that could become your next daily gaming habit.

Currently, if you’re stuck, the game only offers to reveal the entire puzzle, forcing you to move onto the next difficulty level and start over. However, we have you covered! Below are piecemeal answers that will serve as hints so that you can find your way through each difficulty level.

How to play Pips

If you’ve ever played dominoes, you’ll have a passing familiarity for how Pips is played. As we’ve shared in our previous hints stories for Pips, the tiles, like dominoes, are placed vertically or horizontally and connect with each other. The main difference between a traditional game of dominoes and Pips is the color-coded conditions you have to address. The touching tiles don’t necessarily have to match.

The conditions you have to meet are specific to the color-coded spaces. For example, if it provides a single number, every side of a tile in that space must add up to the number provided. It is possible – and common – for only half a tile to be within a color-coded space.

Here are common examples you’ll run into across the difficulty levels:

• Number: All the pips in this space must add up to the number.

• Equal: Every domino half in this space must be the same number of pips.

• Not Equal: Every domino half in this space must have a completely different number of pips.

• Less than: Every domino half in this space must add up to less than the number.

• Greater than: Every domino half in this space must add up to more than the number.

If an area does not have any color coding, it means there are no conditions on the portions of dominoes within those spaces.

Easy difficulty hints, answers for Feb. 8 Pips

Number (3): Everything in this space must add up to 3. The answer is 3-0, placed horizontally.

Equal (0): Everything in this space must be equal to 0. The answer is 3-0, placed horizontally; 0-0, placed vertically.

Greater Than (4): Everything in this space must be greater than 4. The answer is 5-2, placed horizontally.

Equal (2): Everything in this space must be equal to 2. The answer is 5-2, placed horizontally; 2-2, placed horizontally.

Less Than (2): Everything in this space must be less than 2. The answer is 1-4, placed vertically.

Equal (4): Everything in this dark blue space must be equal to 4. The answer is 1-4, placed vertically; 4-4, placed horizontally.

Medium difficulty hints, answers for Feb. 8 Pips

Equal (3): Everything in this space must be equal to 3. The answer is 3-2, placed horizontally; 3-3, placed vertically.

Equal (1): Everything in this space must be equal to 1. The answer is 1-1, placed vertically; 1-0, placed horizontally.

Number (0): Everything in this space must add up to 0. The answer is1-0, placed horizontally.

Less Than (3): Everything in this space must be less than 3. The answer is 2-6, placed horizontally.

Greater Than (8): Everything in this space must be greater than 8. The answer is 2-6, placed horizontally; 6-4, placed vertically.

Number (0): Everything in this space must add up to 0. The answer is 4-0, placed vertically.

Equal (4): Everything in this light blue space must be equal to 4. The answer is 4-0, placed vertically; 4-4, placed horizontally; 2-4, placed horizontally.

Equal (2): Everything in this red space must be equal to 2. The answer is 3-2, placed horizontally; 2-4, placed horizontally.

Hard difficulty hints, answers for Feb. 8 Pips

Equal (2): Everything in this red space must be equal to 2. The answer is 2-5, placed vertically; 2-1, placed horizontally.

Number (11): Everything in this space must add up to 11. The answer is 2-5, placed vertically; 6-2, placed horizontally.

Number (1): Everything in this space must add up to 1. The answer is 2-1, placed horizontally; 0-0, placed vertically; 6-0, placed vertically; 0-1, placed horizontally.

Greater Than (2): Everything in this space must be greater than 2. The answer is 6-4, placed horizontally.

Number (22): Everything in this space must add up to 22. The answer is 6-0, placed vertically; 5-5, placed horizontally; 6-2, placed horizontally.

Number (18): Everything in this space must add up to 18. The answer is 6-6, placed horizontally; 6-3, placed vertically.

Equal (3): Everything in this orange space must be equal to 3. The answer is 1-3, placed horizontally; 6-3, placed vertically.

Equal (4): Everything in this dark blue space must be equal to 4. The answer is 4-4, placed vertically; 5-4, placed horizontally.

Equal (5): Everything in this purple space must be equal to 5. The answer is 5-0, placed vertically; 5-4, placed horizontally; 5-3, placed horizontally.

Greater Than (2): Everything in this green space must be greater than 2. The answer is 5-3, placed horizontally.

If you’re looking for more puzzles, Mashable’s got games now! Check out our games hub for Mahjong, Sudoku, free crossword, and more.

Today’s NYT Strands hints are easy if you love an alcoholic beverage.

Strands, the New York Times‘ elevated word-search game, requires the player to perform a twist on the classic word search. Words can be made from linked letters — up, down, left, right, or diagonal, but words can also change direction, resulting in quirky shapes and patterns. Every single letter in the grid will be part of an answer. There’s always a theme linking every solution, along with the “spangram,” a special, word or phrase that sums up that day’s theme, and spans the entire grid horizontally or vertically.

By providing an opaque hint and not providing the word list, Strands creates a brain-teasing game that takes a little longer to play than its other games, like Wordle and Connections.

If you’re feeling stuck or just don’t have 10 or more minutes to figure out today’s puzzle, we’ve got all the NYT Strands hints for today’s puzzle you need to progress at your preferred pace.

NYT Strands hint for today’s theme: Make it fancy

The words are related to drinks.

Today’s NYT Strands theme plainly explained

These words describe ways to adorn a drink.

NYT Strands spangram hint: Is it vertical or horizontal?

Today’s NYT Strands spangram is vertical.

NYT Strands spangram answer today

Today’s spangram is Cocktail Garnish

NYT Strands word list for February 8

• Twist

• Olive

• Sprig

• Celery

• Cocktail Garnish

• Shrimp

• Cherry

Looking for other daily online games? Mashable’s Games page has more hints, and if you’re looking for more puzzles, Mashable’s got games now!

Check out our games hub for Mahjong, Sudoku, free crossword, and more.

Not the day you’re after? Here’s the solution to yesterday’s Strands.

Today’s Wordle answer should be easy to solve if you like to immerse yourself in things.

If you just want to be told today’s word, you can jump to the bottom of this article for today’s Wordle solution revealed. But if you’d rather solve it yourself, keep reading for some clues, tips, and strategies to assist you.

Where did Wordle come from?

Originally created by engineer Josh Wardle as a gift for his partner, Wordle rapidly spread to become an international phenomenon, with thousands of people around the globe playing every day. Alternate Wordle versions created by fans also sprang up, including battle royale Squabble, music identification game Heardle, and variations like Dordle and Quordle that make you guess multiple words at once. 

Wordle eventually became so popular that it was purchased by the New York Times, and TikTok creators even livestream themselves playing.

What’s the best Wordle starting word?

The best Wordle starting word is the one that speaks to you. But if you prefer to be strategic in your approach, we have a few ideas to help you pick a word that might help you find the solution faster. One tip is to select a word that includes at least two different vowels, plus some common consonants like S, T, R, or N.

What happened to the Wordle archive?

The entire archive of past Wordle puzzles was originally available for anyone to enjoy whenever they felt like it, but it was later taken down, with the website’s creator stating it was done at the request of the New York Times. However, the New York Times then rolled out its own Wordle Archive, available only to NYT Games subscribers.

Is Wordle getting harder?

It might feel like Wordle is getting harder, but it actually isn’t any more difficult than when it first began. You can turn on Wordle‘s Hard Mode if you’re after more of a challenge, though.

Here’s a subtle hint for today’s Wordle answer:

To implant.

Does today’s Wordle answer have a double letter?

The letter E appears twice.

Today’s Wordle is a 5-letter word that starts with…

Today’s Wordle starts with the letter E.

The Wordle answer today is…

Get your last guesses in now, because it’s your final chance to solve today’s Wordle before we reveal the solution.

Drumroll please!

The solution to today’s Wordle is…

EMBED

Don’t feel down if you didn’t manage to guess it this time. There will be a new Wordle for you to stretch your brain with tomorrow, and we’ll be back again to guide you with more helpful hints.

Are you also playing NYT Strands? See hints and answers for today’s Strands.

Reporting by Chance Townsend, Caitlin Welsh, Sam Haysom, Amanda Yeo, Shannon Connellan, Cecily Mauran, Mike Pearl, and Adam Rosenberg contributed to this article.

If you’re looking for more puzzles, Mashable’s got games now! Check out our games hub for Mahjong, Sudoku, free crossword, and more.

Not the day you’re after? Here’s the solution to yesterday’s Wordle.