Historical route lab

Poople #363 VOTE Answer

Poople #363 started at VOTE on August 12, 2026. Its flexible opening changes letters in the sequence V>C, T>M, E>P, M>O, C>P, with 4 par-preserving first moves.

Archive value: this is not a copied daily page. Its tables are calculated for VOTE, including 8 legal openings and route signature 1-3-4-3-1.
Calculated from the current word graph

VOTE route profile

Par5 moves6 words including start and target
Shortest routes8Exact routes in the current accepted graph
Legal first moves84 keep par
Route shapeflexible openingLetter positions 1-3-4-3-1
Spoiler controls

Choose how much to reveal

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 V-O-T-E. Change position 1 and keep positions 2, 3, 4 fixed. Look for a consonant-to-consonant change. 4 different first moves preserve the shortest length.

Reveal the complete 5-move answer

VOTE -> COTE -> COME -> COMP -> COOP -> POOP

Step 0VOTEStart
Step 1COTEBridge
Step 2COMEBridge
Step 3COMPBridge
Step 4COOPBridge
Step 5POOPTarget
Route anatomy

What changes at every step

  1. Step 1VOTE -> COTE

    Tile 1 changes V to C; the move is sideways by letter shape. COTE has 17 legal neighbors, 2 shortest continuations, and 4 moves remaining. Other legal exits from VOTE include TOTE, VOLE, DOTE, NOTE.

  2. Step 2COTE -> COME

    Tile 3 changes T to M; the move is sideways by letter shape. COME has 17 legal neighbors, 2 shortest continuations, and 3 moves remaining. Other legal exits from COTE include COTS, CODE, CORE, COLE.

  3. Step 3COME -> COMP

    Tile 4 changes E to P; the move is closer by letter shape. COMP has 8 legal neighbors, 2 shortest continuations, and 2 moves remaining. Other legal exits from COME include POME, HOME, SOME, DOME.

  4. Step 4COMP -> COOP

    Tile 3 changes M to O; the move is closer by letter shape. COOP has 14 legal neighbors, 1 shortest continuation, and 1 move remaining. Other legal exits from COMP include POMP, COUP, ROMP, CAMP.

  5. Step 5COOP -> POOP

    Tile 1 changes C to P; the move is closer by letter shape. POOP has 11 legal neighbors, target reached, and 0 moves remaining. Other legal exits from COOP include LOOP, HOOP, BOOP, GOOP.

Opening decision

Which first moves preserve par?

VOTE has 8 legal one-letter neighbors. COTE, TOTE, VOLE, DOTE keep the route at 5 moves, while sampled detours begin NOTE (+1), ROTE (+1), MOTE (+1), VITE (+2).

Compare 8 calculated first moves
MoveChanged tileTotalVerdictShortest continuations
COTE1: V -> C5Keeps par4
TOTE1: V -> T5Keeps par1
VOLE3: T -> L5Keeps par2
DOTE1: V -> D5Keeps par1
NOTE1: V -> N6Adds 1 move8
ROTE1: V -> R6Adds 1 move13
MOTE1: V -> M6Adds 1 move10
VITE2: O -> I7Adds 2 moves19

VOTE opening fingerprint

VOTE groups its legal first moves as tile 1: COTE, TOTE, DOTE, NOTE, ROTE, MOTE; tile 2: VITE; tile 3: VOLE. Two moves from the start, 69 off-route words are reachable; the nearest sampled frontier is COTS, DOME, POLE, TOME, CODE, COKE, COLE, CONE, COPE, CORE, COVE, DOGE, DOLE, DONE, DOPE, DOSE, DOTE, DOTS, DOVE, DOZE, HOLE, MOLE, MOPE, MORE.

Your route

Compare a path you played

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Graph reading

COOP is the narrowest displayed bridge

After COMP becomes COOP, only 1 move preserves the shortest remaining distance. At the prior row, alternatives such as POMP, COUP, ROMP, CAMP show what the route declined.

Direct-shape gains
3
Sideways steps
2
Temporary shape detours
0
Steps touching a vowel
2

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: live Graph synced: 2026-08-14 18:35 UTC Puzzle date: August 12, 2026