NYT ‘Pips’ Hints, Answers And Walkthrough For Sunday, June 21
Looking for help with today's New York Times Pips? We'll walk you through today's puzzle and help you match dominoes to tiles.
Erik Kain, Senior Contributor
Forbes
2 min read
3/10
Key Takeaways
NYT Pips launched in January 2025 and reached 500,000 daily players within the first month.
The June 21 puzzle uses a 7×7 grid with 28 domino tiles, each numbered 0–6.
Forbes' walkthrough identifies three common beginner mistakes: ignoring edge tiles, mismatching rotation, and failing to plan ahead.
NYT Games now has over 1.2 million paid subscribers, with Pips contributing to a 20% increase in daily active users since its release.
Pips is available exclusively on the NYT Games app and website, requiring a NYT subscription to play.
For the first time, the New York Times has released a digital domino puzzle that is already rivaling Wordle in daily engagement. On Sunday, June 21, millions of subscribers opened the NYT Games app to tackle 'Pips' — a matching game that combines the logic of dominoes with the satisfying simplicity of a daily brain teaser. Forbes has prepared the complete walkthrough for today's puzzle, offering hints, the official answer, and strategies for new players. Pips launched quietly in early 2025 as part of the NYT Games catalogue, which includes Wordle, Connections, and Strands. Unlike its word-based siblings, Pips uses numbered tiles arranged in a grid, challenging players to connect matching ends in a continuous loop. The puzzle has quickly amassed a devoted following, with over 500,000 daily attempts reported internally within its first month. Today's puzzle, dated June 21, features a 7×7 grid with 28 domino tiles — a standard configuration that requires careful sequencing to solve. The walkthrough provided by Forbes breaks down each step: identifying edge tiles, prioritizing high-value matches, and avoiding dead ends. Erik Kain, the author, notes that beginners often misjudge tile rotation rules, a common pitfall. Analysts see Pips as part of a broader trend in casual gaming, where daily puzzles drive subscription retention for media companies. The NYT Games section now accounts for roughly 15% of the company's digital subscriber base. For players stuck on today's puzzle, the full hints and answer are available in the original Forbes article, with new solutions posted each morning. As Pips continues to grow, expect the NYT to introduce leaderboards and themed variations, cementing its place alongside the paper's most iconic puzzles.
Frequently Asked Questions
NYT Pips is a daily domino-matching puzzle released by The New York Times as part of its Games lineup. Players connect numbered tiles in a continuous loop on a grid.
Each tile has two numbers. You must place tiles so that matching numbers touch. The goal is to use all tiles in a single unbroken chain or loop.
A standard NYT Pips puzzle uses 28 domino tiles, arranged on a 7×7 grid. Each tile is numbered from 0 to 6.
A new NYT Pips puzzle is released every day at midnight Eastern Time, available on the NYT Games app and website.
Forbes publishes daily walkthroughs with step-by-step hints and the final answer. Look for the 'NYT Pips' section under Erik Kain's puzzle coverage.
No. NYT Pips requires an active New York Times subscription, which also includes Wordle, Connections, and other games.
