If Pips has you hooked on dragging dominoes into place, Masonry is the next one to try. It uses the same pieces and the same drag-and-turn feel. The rule underneath is different, and that changes how you think.
PerDiem Games isn't affiliated with The New York Times. The Pips details here come from the Times' help page and press coverage as of October 2026.
How is Masonry different from Pips?
In Pips, the board is split into colored regions, and each region has its own condition: the pips must be equal, all different, add to a number, or sit above or below one. A domino's two halves can land in two different regions and answer to two different rules. Each rule only cares about its own patch of the board.
In Masonry there are no regions. There's one rule for the whole grid: every row and every column holds each number exactly once. That's a Latin square, the same rule as a sudoku row, built from dominoes instead of single digits. So one domino doesn't just satisfy its patch. It tells you something about two rows and up to two columns at once.
| Pips | Masonry | |
|---|---|---|
| Rule | A condition per colored region | Each number once per row and column |
| Board | Irregular shapes | Square: 4 by 4 on weekdays, 6 by 6 on weekends |
| Clues | The region conditions | Printed pips, joined squares, a few set dominoes |
| Difficulty | Easy, Medium and Hard each day | One puzzle a day that gets harder Monday to Sunday |
| Price | Part of NYT Games | Free, no account |
What does a Masonry deduction look like?
Say a row on a 4 by 4 board already shows 2, 4 and 1. Its last square has to be 3. Now look at your tray. If only one domino left has a 3 on it, that domino has to cover that square, and its other half lands either beside it in the row or in the column above or below. Whichever way you turn it, the other half's number has to be missing from the line it lands in. Often only one way fits.
That chain, from one square to one domino to one direction, is most of the game. The clues are set so there's exactly one solution, and you can reach it without guessing.
What's in a day of Masonry?
- Printed pips. Grey pips on a square give its number. Cover them with the same number.
- Joined squares. Two squares drawn as one long shape take a single domino.
- Set dominoes. A dashed edge means it's already right and can't move.
- Pencil marks. Tap an empty square to note a number before you know which domino covers it.
- A hint that always helps. If a placed domino is wrong, it gets a red ring, even when it breaks no rule yet. If everything placed is right, it shows where the next one goes.
Monday starts with a set domino and two joined pairs on a 4 by 4. By Friday you get no set dominoes and one joined pair. The weekend jumps to 6 by 6, with about a third of the board laid for you. The Masonry guide has the full week.
Signed-in players get a daily leaderboard ranked by time, with 30 seconds added for each hint. Play today's Masonry.
More domino and tile puzzles
- Seams: drag square tiles into a grid so every touching edge matches by color, by number, or by adding to 10. If you liked the "one solution, no guessing" part of Masonry, this is its closest cousin. See edge-matching puzzles like Tetravex.
- Cliques: drop 16 dominoes to grow big groups of matching shapes and colors, and chase a medal.
- Theorem: swap tiles to match three daily rules and multiply your score.
More on logic puzzles, or browse every game by type.