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 March 25 Pips

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

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

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

Number (14): Everything in this space must add up to 14. The answer is 5-5, placed horizontally; 4-4, placed horizontally.

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

Medium difficulty hints, answers for March 25 Pips

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

Equal (6): Everything in this space must be equal to 6. The answer is 2-6, placed horizontally; 5-6, placed horizontally; 6-1, placed horizontally.

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

Equal (5): Everything in this space must be equal to 5. The answer is 5-0, placed vertically; 5-6, placed horizontally; 5-3, placed vertically.

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

Equal (3): Everything in this space must be equal to 5. The answer is 5-3, placed vertically; 3-3, placed horizontally; 3-1, placed horizontally.

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

Hard difficulty hints, answers for March 25 Pips

Number (5): Everything in this space must add up to 5. The answer is 4-0, placed vertically; 1-2, placed horizontally.

Number (8): Everything in this space must add up to 8. The answer is 1-2, placed horizontally; 6-6, placed horizontally.

Equal (0): Everything in this space must be equal to 0. The answer is 4-0, placed vertically; 0-6, placed vertically; 0-2, placed horizontally.

Less than (3): Everything in this space must be less than 3. The answer is 0-2, placed horizontally.

Number (7): Everything in this space must add up to 7. The answer is 6-6, placed horizontally; 1-3, placed vertically.

Equal (6): Everything in this space must be equal to 6. The answer is 0-3, placed vertically; 6-5, placed vertically; 6-4, placed horizontally.

Greater than (3): Everything in this space must be greater than 3. The answer is 6-4, placed horizontally.

Number (6): Everything in this space must add up to 6. The answer is -3, placed vertically; 3-0, placed vertically.

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

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

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

Number (6): Everything in this space must add up to 6. The answer is 3-0, placed vertically; 4-2, placed vertically.

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

Best Big Spring Sale Tablet Deals

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Amazon’s Big Spring Sale kicks off on March 25. The seasonal sale, which runs through March 31, focuses on seasonal transition items – think cleaning supplies to freshen up your home and camping supples to get outdoors. However, it wouldn’t be a sale without tech deals, too.

Ahead of the sale, we’ve spotted early savings on tablets, good timing considering Apple just dropped a brand new tablet. The Apple iPad Air with M4 chip just dropped this month, and the good news is, it’s already on sale. But if iPads aren’t your thing don’t worry, there are plenty of other tablet deals to shop.

Here are all the best tablet deals to shop ahead of Amazon’s Big Spring Sale.

Best Tablet Deal

Read our full review of the Apple iPad Air (M4).

Apple’s latest iPad drop is the iPad Air with M4 chip. It’s one of the retailers speediest, most efficient tablets, scoring 13,176 on the Geekbench 6 test, which puts it ahead of most laptops. When Apple released the new iPad Air, they didn’t raise the price, keeping the midrange tablet at $599. However, it already receive a price cut at Amazon.

Ahead of the Big Spring Sale, get the Apple iPad Air with M4 chip for just $559. While that’s only $40 in savings and less than 10% off its list price, it’s still a great deal considering it’s a brand new tablet.

So while we might like this deal best, if you want some bigger savings, there are plenty more deals to shop.

More tablet deals

iPads

• Apple iPad, 11-inch (A16 chip, 128GB, WiFi) — $299 $349 (save $150)

• Apple iPad Air, 11-inch (M4 chip, 256GB, WiFi) — $649.99 $699 (save $49.01)

• Apple iPad Air, 11-inch (M3 chip, 1TB, WiFi) — $979 $1,099 (save $120)

• Apple iPad Pro, 13-inch (M5 chip, 256GB, WiFi) — $1,199 $1,299 (save $100)

• Apple iPad Pro, 13-inch (M4 chip, 512GB, WiFi) — $1,299.99 $1,499 (save $199.01)

Android

Kids tablet

By Joshua Tyler
| Updated 7 hours ago

The first twenty years of the 2000s belonged to Joss Whedon, and he found that success by becoming king of the nerds. His was the mind behind the most successful geek properties of all time, and he was Marvel’s chief genius, the architect of assembling The Avengers. Then, in 2021, he was cancelled. I still don’t understand why.

First, it must be said that Joss Whedon definitely did bad things, and he’s not someone I would ever be friends with. The source of my confusion isn’t a debate over whether he’s a virtuous person; he isn’t. What doesn’t add up is why Hollywood’s powers think his level of virtue should determine whether or not he’s allowed to work.

To understand how strange Joss Whedon’s cancellation is, first, we need to understand what he’s accused of. Here’s a simple, bullet-point list.

Joss Whedon’s Bad Behavior

• Joss Whedon is accused of saying mean things to Ray Fisher and Charisma Carpenter.
• Joss Whedon was a bad husband and had consensual relationships with his actresses.
• Joss Whedon’s sets weren’t always fun, according to some people.

None of these things is good, but to put them in context, let’s compare that list to things done by other Hollywood notables who aren’t cancelled and can do whatever they want. 

Woody Allen’s Bad Behavior

• Woody Allen is accused of molesting his daughter, Dylan Farrow.
• Woody Allen married his adopted daughter. 
• Woody Allen cheated on his wife with his adopted daughter.

That seems worse than Joss Whedon. A lot worse. Yet Woody Allen isn’t cancelled. Let’s try someone else, maybe Woody Allen is a one-off? What about acclaimed director Roman Polanski, who frequently wins Oscars and can work on anything he wants? 

Roman Polanski’s Bad Behavior

• Roman Polanski pleaded guilty to, and was convicted of, raping a 13-year-old child. 
• Roman Polanski pleaded guilty to, and was convicted of, drugging a child.
• Roman Polanski fled the country to escape justice.

Roman Polanski has suffered zero consequences and instead is frequently nominated for awards and praised as a genius. What about a more modern figure, like Mel Gibson?

Mel Gibson’s Bad Behavior

• Mel Gibson was arrested for a DUI, which endangered the lives of others.
• Mel Gibson is on tape making sexist and full-on anti-Semitic and racist comments.
• Mel Gibson pleaded not guilty to domestic battery against a helpless woman.
• Mel Gibson is on tape making violent threats.

There was, for a time, some vague noise about cancellation over Gibson’s anti-semitic comments, but it never happened. He kept working, getting payday roles in big Hollywood movies like Daddy’s Home. At this very moment, Mel Gibson is working on directing The Passion of the Christ 2. Meanwhile, Joss Whedon’s Firefly series is being handed over to a talentless hack who made a bunch of terrible superhero shows, because Whedon is not allowed to work.

Maybe Joss Whedon’s problem is that most of his bad behavior revolved around things that happened at work. Let’s take a look at another big, Hollywood director.

James Cameron’s Bad Behavior

• James Cameron is accused of saying mean things to Ed Harris and other actors.
• James Cameron was a bad husband and had numerous consensual relationships with his actresses.
• James Cameron’s sets aren’t always fun, and he’s known to yell at people, mistreat his cast, and physically endanger them.

James Cameron’s history seems similar to Joss Whedon’s. Yet he’s currently in production on another Avatar movie, and no one seems to mind any of it.

Evil Flourishes In Hollywood

Mel Gibson, Roman Polanski, and Woody Allen are not edge cases. Neither is James Cameron, whose behavior is pretty much a mirror of every successful Hollywood director. The movie-making business is full of people who are, by any objective measure, extremely evil.

To actually get punished, you usually have to be as bad as Harvey Weinstein, a serial assaulter and abuser with dozens of accusers. He’s now in jail, where he belongs, but if he gets out (and that’s a real possibility), he’ll never work in Hollywood again.

By comparison, Joss Whedon said some vaguely mean things, was a bad husband, and yet, like Harvey Weinstein, he’s never going to work again. It doesn’t add up.

The Psychology Behind Hating Nerds

Until the early 2000s, nerds like Joss Whedon and the nerd audience he represents were treated like a joke. Nerds were disrespected, hated, and entire movies, like Napoleon Dynamite, were built around the idea of how funny it was to bully and dunk on them.

That changed as Hollywood began to see the profit potential behind catering to geeks, but that doesn’t mean the powers that be were happy about it. They couldn’t be, because of something called Status Identity Threat Syndrome.

Status Identity Threat Syndrome (noun): A psychological response in which individuals experience anxiety, defensiveness, or hostility when the traits or skills that underpin their social status and self-worth are devalued or displaced within a shifting hierarchy.

Extroverted networkers tend to build influence through visibility, relationships, and social fluency, the traditional, human-centric routes to power. For most of human history, these kinds of networkers ran not just Hollywood, but the entire world. When “nerd” types, people who win through technical mastery, obsessive focus, or systems thinking, start outperforming them, it scrambles that hierarchy. 

Psychologically, it’s a form of status inconsistency: the traits that used to signal dominance (charisma, connections) suddenly matter less than competence in domains the networkers don’t control. That creates anxiety, because it’s not just losing, it’s losing in a way that makes your skill set feel obsolete.

People defend traits on which they base their self-worth. If success shifts away from social skills like extroverted networking, those invested in social capital can feel threatened. So if you’re an extrovert who has built your entire life around looking cool, seeing an awkward nerd succeed would, from a well-founded psychological perspective, make you very nervous.

Anti-Nerd Bigotry Is Real

As you might expect, as the founder of sites like GIANT FREAKIN ROBOT, I’m something of a nerd. The more successful I’ve gotten, the more the extroverts who man the levers of power dislike me, and the harder they’ve worked to push me out. It’s not something unique to me; it’s something that happens to every introverted nerd in every industry and social corner. Ask them about it, and they’ll tell you.

It’s why educational research shows that introverted students are more likely to be ignored by teachers, receiving less attention and help, resulting in lower grades and fewer opportunities. It’s why data shows that extroverts are more likely to get favorable outcomes in court and even receive superior medical care. It’s why introverted nerds, on average, make 20% less than their extroverted counterparts, despite data showing they demonstrate superior competence at work.

Joss Whedon isn’t the only nerd to be cancelled over allegations like these. Pixar’s bespectacled, Hawaiian shirt-wearing John Lasseter was kicked out of Hollywood for giving a hug. Anyone seen Harry Knowles lately?

I’m not arguing here that Joss Whedon should be un-cancelled; he seems like a hypocritical jerk. Also, Harry Knowles always struck me as a sleaze; we’re probably better off without him. But if being unlikable is the baseline standard we’re setting for whether or not you’re allowed to work, then shouldn’t Woody Allen be locked up in a torture dungeon, instead of being celebrated as a genius?

Make it make sense. Until you do, I’m going to assume you hate nerds and respond by hating you right back. I’m also never going to celebrate anything by Roman Polanski. Sorry, Rosemary’s Baby.