NYT Pips Hints and Answers for Friday, Oct. 30, 2026: Easy, Medium and Hard Domino Placements

Friday’s Pips from The New York Times (NYT), for Oct. 30, 2026, has an Easy board by Ian Livengood and Medium and Hard boards by Rodolfo Kurchan; two hints for each come first, and every domino placement is at the end. The solutions come from the puzzle data the Times publishes for the game and were checked against every region’s rule. The boards go live at midnight in your time zone. Thursday’s boards are in our Pips story for Oct. 29.

How Pips works

You place every domino so that each colored region meets its condition. A number means the pips in the region add up to it; = means every half shows the same value; ≠ means all are different; > and < set a total above or below a number; a region with no condition takes anything. Rows are counted from the top and columns from the left, so R2C5 is the second row, fifth column.

Friday’s Pips hints, Oct. 30, 2026

Easy (five dominoes: 0-0, 5-0, 3-1, 0-1, 5-5)

• Hint 1

  R3C1, R4C1 and R3C2 total less than 1, so all three are blanks. R4C4 is also less than 1, which makes four blanks in all.
• Hint 2

  R2C3 and R3C3 are equal. They hold the two 1s, from the 3-1 and 0-1 dominoes.

Medium (seven dominoes: 2-3, 4-0, 5-3, 2-2, 2-0, 3-3, 2-1)

• Hint 1

  R1C1 must add up to 1, so it holds a 1. The 2-1 domino hangs below it, with its 2 in R2C1.
• Hint 2

  R3C1 must be more than 3, and R2C2 and R3C2 total less than 3. The 4-0 domino fits both: the 4 goes in R3C1 and the blank in R3C2.

Hard (thirteen dominoes on a six-row board)

• Hint 1

  R1C7 must add up to 6. The 6-1 domino hangs below it, with its 1 in R2C7.
• Hint 2

  R2C9 and R3C5 must each add up to 0, so both hold blanks. The 3-0 and 0-5 dominoes supply them.

Solving tips

Look for single cells with a sum target: a cell that must add up to 0, 3 or 6 can only hold that value. An “equal” region shrinks your options fast once one value is known; with three cells, as in Friday’s Hard board, you need three matching halves, and a double can supply two of them. On the Hard board, count the blanks: there are two 0 halves among the 13 dominoes.

More of Friday’s puzzles: Wordle hints and Connections hints. Track your solve times on our printable weekly calendar or the October 2026 calendar.

Friday’s Pips answers, Oct. 30, 2026 (spoilers)

Stop here if you want to solve the boards yourself.

On the Easy and Medium boards the placements are fixed. On the Hard board the 4-1 domino can be flipped without breaking a rule, because R6C7 and R6C8 only need to add up to 5. The values below are one arrangement that fits the placements in the puzzle data and every region’s condition.

Easy, by Ian Livengood. Regions: R1C4, R2C4 and R3C4 are equal; R2C3 and R3C3 are equal; R3C1, R4C1 and R3C2 total less than 1; R4C4 is less than 1; R2C2 takes any value.

• 0-0: R3C1 = 0, R4C1 = 0
• 5-0: R3C4 = 5, R4C4 = 0
• 3-1: R2C2 = 3, R2C3 = 1
• 0-1: R3C2 = 0, R3C3 = 1
• 5-5: R1C4 = 5, R2C4 = 5

Medium, by Rodolfo Kurchan. Regions: R1C1 adds up to 1; R1C2 is more than 2; R2C2 and R3C2 total less than 3; R2C3 and R2C4 are equal; R2C5 and R3C5 add up to 7; R2C6 and R3C6 add up to 4; R3C1 is more than 3; R2C1, R3C3 and R3C4 take any value.

• 2-3: R2C2 = 2, R1C2 = 3
• 4-0: R3C1 = 4, R3C2 = 0
• 5-3: R2C5 = 5, R2C4 = 3
• 2-2: R2C6 = 2, R3C6 = 2
• 2-0: R3C5 = 2, R3C4 = 0
• 3-3: R2C3 = 3, R3C3 = 3
• 2-1: R2C1 = 2, R1C1 = 1

Hard, by Rodolfo Kurchan. Regions: R1C7 adds up to 6; R2C7 is less than 2; R2C9 adds up to 0; R3C3 adds up to 5; R3C4 adds up to 3; R3C5 adds up to 0; R3C6 adds up to 4; R3C7 adds up to 4; R3C8 adds up to 6; R3C9 adds up to 4; R4C1, R4C2 and R5C2 are equal; R4C3 and R5C3 add up to 6; R4C4 adds up to 3; R4C5 and R4C6 add up to 9; R4C7 adds up to 2; R5C6 and R5C7 add up to 6; R6C3 and R6C4 total less than 7; R6C7 and R6C8 add up to 5; R2C8 takes any value.

• 4-5: R4C6 = 4, R5C6 = 5
• 4-3: R4C3 = 4, R4C4 = 3
• 6-1: R1C7 = 6, R2C7 = 1
• 0-5: R3C5 = 0, R4C5 = 5
• 3-0: R2C8 = 3, R2C9 = 0
• 4-1: R6C8 = 4, R6C7 = 1
• 3-3: R6C3 = 3, R6C4 = 3
• 4-4: R3C6 = 4, R3C7 = 4
• 6-6: R4C1 = 6, R4C2 = 6
• 6-4: R3C8 = 6, R3C9 = 4
• 3-5: R3C4 = 3, R3C3 = 5
• 2-1: R4C7 = 2, R5C7 = 1
• 2-6: R5C3 = 2, R5C2 = 6

The three-cell equal region on the Hard board is all 6s, from the 6-6 and 2-6 dominoes. Saturday’s boards arrive at midnight.