Poople #355 started at REIN on August 4, 2026. Its narrow opening changes letters in the sequence E>A, R>L, A>O, I>O, N>P, L>P, with 1 par-preserving first moves.
The hint describes the move without naming the word. The full route stays closed until you ask for it.
Reveal a direction, not a word
The current row reads R-E-I-N. Change position 2 and keep positions 1, 3, 4 fixed. Look for a vowel-to-vowel change. Only one first move preserves the shortest length.
Reveal the complete 6-move answer
REIN -> RAIN -> LAIN -> LOIN -> LOON -> LOOP -> POOP
Step 0REINStart
Step 1RAINBridge
Step 2LAINBridge
Step 3LOINBridge
Step 4LOONBridge
Step 5LOOPBridge
Step 6POOPTarget
Route anatomy
What changes at every step
Step 1REIN -> RAIN
Tile 2 changes E to A; the move is sideways by letter shape. RAIN has 10 legal neighbors, 1 shortest continuation, and 5 moves remaining. Other legal exits from REIN include VEIN, RUIN.
Step 2RAIN -> LAIN
Tile 1 changes R to L; the move is sideways by letter shape. LAIN has 10 legal neighbors, 1 shortest continuation, and 4 moves remaining. Other legal exits from RAIN include MAIN, PAIN, GAIN, RAIL.
Step 3LAIN -> LOIN
Tile 2 changes A to O; the move is closer by letter shape. LOIN has 5 legal neighbors, 1 shortest continuation, and 3 moves remaining. Other legal exits from LAIN include MAIN, PAIN, GAIN, LAID.
Step 4LOIN -> LOON
Tile 3 changes I to O; the move is closer by letter shape. LOON has 13 legal neighbors, 1 shortest continuation, and 2 moves remaining. Other legal exits from LOIN include LOAN, JOIN, COIN.
Step 5LOON -> LOOP
Tile 4 changes N to P; the move is closer by letter shape. LOOP has 9 legal neighbors, 1 shortest continuation, and 1 move remaining. Other legal exits from LOON include LOOK, LOOM, BOON, LOOT.
Step 6LOOP -> POOP
Tile 1 changes L to P; the move is closer by letter shape. POOP has 11 legal neighbors, target reached, and 0 moves remaining. Other legal exits from LOOP include COOP, HOOP, BOOP, GOOP.
Opening decision
Which first moves preserve par?
REIN has 3 legal one-letter neighbors, but only RAIN keeps the route at 6 moves. Nearby detours begin VEIN (+1), RUIN (+1).
Compare 3 calculated first moves
Move
Changed tile
Total
Verdict
Shortest continuations
RAIN
2: E -> A
6
Keeps par
1
VEIN
1: R -> V
7
Adds 1 move
1
RUIN
2: E -> U
7
Adds 1 move
1
REIN opening fingerprint
REIN groups its legal first moves as tile 1: VEIN; tile 2: RAIN, RUIN. Two moves from the start, 9 off-route words are reachable; the nearest sampled frontier is FAIN, GAIN, MAIN, PAIN, RAID, RAIL, VAIN, RUIN, VEIL.
Your route
Compare a path you played
Your route stays in this browser; it is not submitted.
Graph reading
LOIN is the narrowest displayed bridge
After LAIN becomes LOIN, only 1 move preserves the shortest remaining distance. At the prior row, alternatives such as MAIN, PAIN, GAIN, LAID show what the route declined.
Direct-shape gains
4
Sideways steps
2
Temporary shape detours
0
Steps touching a vowel
3
How these figures were calculated
Poople recomputes adjacency and distance from the accepted 2,398-word graph. "Shortest routes" counts every path that lowers the remaining distance by one at each move; it is not a guess based on page text or player scores.
The displayed answer is one shortest route selected from that graph. Community scores and notes are kept separate because they describe player activity, not the mathematical route.
Data mode: liveGraph synced: 2026-08-14 06:15 UTCPuzzle date: August 4, 2026