Tips, answers and walkthrough for Saturday 28th February

It’s interesting: January ended on a Saturday and February began on a Sunday. Now we’re doing it again, with February ending on a Saturday and March starting on a Sunday. Another odd calendar detail: February had a Friday the 13th and March also had 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 in 2015 (11 years ago) and the next time we will have it is in 2037 (11 years from now). But before 2015, this happened in 2009 (6 years) and the time after 2037 will be 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 on. A strange pattern. 11 + 11 + 6 = 28, also known as the 28 year solar cycle.

But I digress. Let’s solve today’s Pips!

I’m looking for Friday‘s Pips? Read our guide here.

How to play Pips

In Pips, you have a grid of colorful boxes. Each colored area represents a different “condition” you need to achieve. You have a selected number of dominoes to spend filling the grid. You have to use every domino and get every condition right to win. There are Easy, Medium and Hard levels.

Here is an example of a difficult Pips level:

As you can see, the grid has a bunch of symbols and numbers with each color. On the far left, the three purple squares should not be equal to each other (hence the crossed out equal sign). The two pink squares next to it must add up to 0. The blue zigzag squares must all be equal to each other. You click on the dominoes to rotate them, and you will need to, since they need to be rotated to fit where they belong.

No other conditions such as “less than” or “greater than” appear in this grid. If there are multiple tiles with the > or < signs, the total of those tiles must be greater or less than the listed number. Varies by grid. White spaces can be anything. The various possible conditions are:

• = All pips must be equal to each other in this group.
• ≠ All pips must not be equal to each other in this group.
• > The pip on that tile (or tiles) must be greater than the number listed.
• < The pip on this tile must be less than the listed number.
• An exact number (like 6) The pip must equal that exact number.
• Unconditional tiles can be anything.

To win, you must use all your dominoes by filling in all the squares, making sure they match each condition. Sometimes there is only one way to solve the puzzle. Other times, there may be two or more different solutions. Play today’s Pips puzzle here.

Today’s Pips Solutions and Walkthrough

Below are the solutions for Easy and Medium Pips. After that, I will walk you through the Hard puzzle. Spoiler ahead.

Today’s Easy Pips

Today’s Medium Pips

Hard Pips Walkthrough and Solution

Here are today’s Hard Pips:

Today’s Hard Pips is best solved using one of my favorite strategies: Save all the free tiles for last. We can tell by counting dominoes that we will need 4 for the large Orange group = and we have enough to fill that and the Blue 4 tile.

Step 1

Start with the 4/0 domino from Orange = down to Dark Blue 0. Then place the 4/2 domino from Orange = onto Purple 5 and the 3/1 domino from Purple 5 onto Blue 2. Place the 4/1 domino from Orange = onto Blue 2.

Step 2

Then place the 4/4 domino perpendicular to the adjacent Orange = tiles and the 4/5 domino from Orange = to Pink < 6. Τοποθετήστε το ντόμινο 3/3 στο Πράσινο 6 και το ντόμινο 5/2 από Μωβ > 3 down to Pink =.

Solution

Place the 3/2 domino from the top free tile down on Pink = and the 6/1 domino from the second free tile on Dark Blue 1. Move to the bottom of the Pips and place the 4/6 domino from Blue 4 on the third free tile and the 6/3 domino from the last free tile on Green 3, and that’s it, as they say!

This was a pretty easy Hard Pips 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 on the bottom free tile as a placeholder, and almost messed myself up in the process. But I recovered and it was smooth sailing after that.

How did you do in today’s Pips? Let me know!

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