Pips July 31, 2026

Hints and answers for July 31, 2026

Stuck? Take it in stages. A nudge costs less than the full answer, and the answer is here if you want it — each diagram below is the verified solution our generator built this board from. On the looser boards other valid arrangements can exist too; any filling that covers every square and satisfies every region counts as solved.

Reading the outline

This is a distinctly irregular outline, filling only 67% of its 5×6 bounding box. Narrow arms are the danger: a square at the end of a one-wide corridor has exactly one possible partner, so if that partner gets covered the board becomes unsolvable regardless of what else you do.

The easy board is a different animal: the shape fills about 89% of its 3×3 bounding box, so there are a few notches in the outline. Squares along those notches have fewer neighbours than they look like they do — check them before you commit tiles elsewhere.

Where the regions meet

There are 9 distinct region-to-region boundaries on this board, which is a lot for 7 regions. Almost every tile you place is going to land half in one region and half in another, so treating regions as separate sub-puzzles will not work here — think in pairs.

A domino can straddle two regions, and each half only has to satisfy the region it lands in. That is the single most common misreading of the format — people assume a tile must sit inside one region, which makes perfectly solvable boards look impossible. The rules page works through it with examples.

Easy, medium and hard compared

These are three separate boards, not one board with hints removed, so playing all three on July 31, 2026 gives you three genuine attempts rather than three views of the same solution.

easy

8 squares, 4 dominoes, 4 regions, 5 region boundaries. 50% of its regions carry something other than an exact total, and the widest region spans 3 squares.

medium

14 squares, 7 dominoes, 6 regions, 7 region boundaries. 50% of its regions carry something other than an exact total, and the widest region spans 3 squares.

hard

20 squares, 10 dominoes, 7 regions, 9 region boundaries. 57% of its regions carry something other than an exact total, and the widest region spans 4 squares.

What your tray forces

The tray holds 4 doubles (6-6, 1-1, 5-5, 0-0), and the board has 2 regions governed by an equality rule. A double can never sit entirely inside an all-different region, so those tiles have to straddle a boundary — which usually pins them down before anything else on the board.

The heaviest tile on the hard board is the 6-6 and the lightest is the 0-0. Those two are worth locating first: the heavy tile can only go where a sum has room, and the light one is often the only thing that fits a tight region.

Board by board

Common questions

Is the July 31, 2026 pips puzzle free to play?

Yes. All three boards for this date are free, with no account and no subscription, and they stay available permanently.

How many dominoes does the July 31, 2026 hard board use?

10 dominoes across 20 squares. Every tile in the tray must be used, and the count is always exactly half the number of squares.

Where do the doubles go on this board?

This tray holds 4 doubles (6-6, 1-1, 5-5, 0-0). A double puts the same value on both of its squares, so it cannot sit inside an all-different region and it is the fastest way to overshoot a tight sum. Place them where the arithmetic has slack.

Can I replay this puzzle later?

Yes. Boards are generated deterministically from the date, so this URL always shows this exact puzzle. Your progress saves in your own browser, and Reset clears it whenever you want a fresh attempt.

Count the pips before you place

Your tray carries 65 pips in total, and the exact-sum regions between them demand 28 across 9 squares. That leaves 37 pips to absorb elsewhere. Running that subtraction before you place anything tells you whether the unconstrained squares are going to be a dumping ground or a tight squeeze.

The same check on the medium board: your tray carries 42 pips in total, and the exact-sum regions between them demand 25 across 8 squares. That leaves 17 pips to absorb elsewhere. Running that subtraction before you place anything tells you whether the unconstrained squares are going to be a dumping ground or a tight squeeze.

Where this puzzle comes from

This board was not hand-designed and it was not copied from anywhere. The generator laid down a valid arrangement of 10 dominoes first, then divided the 20 squares into 7 regions and derived each region's rule from the values that had already landed in it. Because the solution existed before the constraints did, this board provably has one.

It was then loosened: rules were swapped for weaker ones, one at a time, keeping each swap only while the number of valid arrangements stayed inside the bound for this difficulty. That is why 4 of the hard board's 7 regions carry something other than an exact total.

Generation is seeded from the date, so July 31, 2026 produces this exact board on every device, permanently. Sharing this link always shows the same puzzle. More on the process in our editorial policy.