It’s interesting: January ended on a Saturday and February began on a Sunday. Now we’re repeating that, with February ending on a Saturday and March beginning on a Sunday. Another odd calendar detail: February had a Friday the 13th and March also has a Friday the 13th.
This has to do with Leap Years and the 28-year solar cycle. The last time we had Friday the 13th in two consecutive months was 2015 (11 years ago) and the next time we’ll have it is in 2037 (11 years from now). But prior to 2015, this occurred in 2009 (6 years) and the time after 2037 will be in 2043 (6 years). So it’s basically a 6 year gap followed by two 11 year gaps followed by a 6 year gap and so forth. A curious pattern. 11 + 11 + 6 = 28, aka the 28-year solar cycle.
But I digress. Let’s solve today’s Pips!
Looking for Friday’s Pips? Read our guide right here.
How To Play Pips
In Pips, you have a grid of multicolored boxes. Each colored area represents a different “condition” that you have to achieve. You have a select number of dominoes that you have to spend filling in the grid. You must use every domino and achieve every condition properly to win. There are Easy, Medium and Difficult tiers.
Here’s an example of a difficult tier Pips:
As you can see, the grid has a bunch of symbols and numbers with each color. On the far left, the three purple squares must not equal one another (hence the equal sign crossed out). The two pink squares next to that must equal a total of 0. The zig-zagging blue squares all must equal one another. You click on dominoes to rotate them, and will need to since they have to be rotated to fit where they belong.
Not shown on this grid are other conditions, such as “less than” or “greater than.” If there are multiple tiles with > or < signs, the total of those tiles must be greater or less than the listed number. It varies by grid. Blank spaces can have anything. The various possible conditions are:
- = All pips must equal one another in this group.
- ≠ All pips must not equal one another in this group.
- > The pip in this tile (or tiles) must be greater than the listed number.
- < The pip in this tile must be less than the listed number.
- An exact number (like 6) The pip must equal this exact number.
- Tiles with no conditions can be anything.
In order to win, you have to use up all your dominoes by filling in all the squares, making sure to fit each condition. Sometimes there’s only one way to solve the puzzle. Other times, there can be two or more different solutions. Play today’s Pips puzzle here.
Today’s Pips Solutions And Walkthrough
Below are the solutions for the Easy and Medium tier Pips. After that, I’ll walk you through the Hard puzzle. Spoilers ahead.
Today’s Easy Pips
Today’s Medium Pips
Hard Pips Walkthrough And Solution
Here’s today’s Hard Pips:
Today’s Hard Pips is best solved using one of my favorite strategies: Save all the free tiles for the end. We can tell by counting dominos that we’ll need 4’s for the big Orange = group, and we have just enough to fill that and the Blue 4 tile.
Step 1
Start with the 4/0 domino from Orange = down into Dark Blue 0. Next, place the 4/2 domino from Orange = into Purple 5 and the 3/1 domino from Purple 5 up into Blue 2. Place the 4/1 domino from Orange = into Blue 2.
Step 2
Next, place the 4/4 domino vertically in the adjacent Orange = tiles and the 4/5 domino from Orange = into Pink < 6. Place the 3/3 domino in Green 6 and the 5/2 domino from Purple > 3 down into Pink =.
Solution
Place the 3/2 domino from the top free tile down into Pink = and the 6/1 domino from the second free tile over into Dark Blue 1. Move to the bottom of the Pips and place the 4/6 domino from Blue 4 into the third free tile, and the 6/3 domino from the final free tile into Green 3. And that, as they say, is a wrap!
This was a pretty easy Hard Pips as far as they go, especially compared to some of the really challenging ones we’ve had. I didn’t follow my own rule at first, and tried to put a domino from Green 3 into the bottom free tile as a placeholder, and almost confounded myself in the process. But I recovered and it was smooth sailing after that.
How’d you do on today’s Pips? Let me know!
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