The Forbes article by Erik Kain provides a detailed walkthrough and solutions for the New York Times puzzle game "Pips" for Sunday, July 19, 2026. "Pips" is a grid-based puzzle that challenges players to place domino-like pieces onto a color-coded board while satisfying various mathematical and logical conditions. The game features three difficulty levels—Easy, Medium, and Hard—each requiring players to use every domino piece to fill the grid correctly according to specific rules shown on the colored areas.

The article explains how the puzzle is set up, including the different conditions players must meet. For example, some groups of squares must have pips (dots on the domino tiles) that all equal each other, while others must have pips that do not equal one another or exceed or fall below certain numeric thresholds. Players can rotate domino pieces to fit the grid, and some tiles are assigned exact values while others can vary. The article includes visual examples of the puzzles at varying difficulties and highlights the complexity involved, particularly in the Hard tier.

To help readers solve the puzzles, Kain shares step-by-step instructions for tackling the Hard puzzle, which resembles a tree shape. He describes a trial-and-error approach, starting with placing dominoes with specific pip values in areas with constraints like "greater than 4" or "less than 4" and gradually filling in the rest of the grid. The walkthrough covers placing each domino in the right order to satisfy conditions involving equality, inequality, and exact pip counts, ultimately completing the puzzle with a creative "domino tree."

Kain encourages players to try the puzzles and invites them to share their results. He also points readers to follow him on social media platforms like Twitter and Instagram for more daily puzzle guides, TV and movie reviews, and other entertainment content. The article is part of Forbes’ ongoing coverage of games and puzzles, designed to assist fans with strategies and solutions while enhancing the enjoyment of NYT’s "Pips."