Historical route lab

Poople #371 MICE Answer

Poople #371 started at MICE on August 20, 2026. Its flexible opening changes letters in the sequence C>L, E>L, M>P, I>O, L>O, L>P, with 6 par-preserving first moves.

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Archive value: this is not a copied daily page. Its tables are calculated for MICE, including 14 legal openings and route signature 3-4-1-2-3-4.

Calculated from the current word graph

MICE route profile

Par6 moves7 words including start and target

Shortest routes14Exact routes in the current accepted graph

Legal first moves146 keep par

Route shapeflexible openingLetter positions 3-4-1-2-3-4

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 M-I-C-E. Change position 3 and keep positions 1, 2, 4 fixed. Look for a consonant-to-consonant change. 6 different first moves preserve the shortest length.

Reveal the complete 6-move answer

MICE -> MILE -> MILL -> PILL -> POLL -> POOL -> POOP

Step 0MICEStart

Step 1MILEBridge

Step 2MILLBridge

Step 3PILLBridge

Step 4POLLBridge

Step 5POOLBridge

Step 6POOPTarget

Route anatomy

What changes at every step

Step 1MICE -> MILE

Tile 3 changes C to L; the move is sideways by letter shape. MILE has 19 legal neighbors, 3 shortest continuations, and 5 moves remaining. Other legal exits from MICE include MIKE, DICE, MIME, LICE.
Step 2MILE -> MILL

Tile 4 changes E to L; the move is sideways by letter shape. MILL has 16 legal neighbors, 1 shortest continuation, and 4 moves remaining. Other legal exits from MILE include PILE, MOLE, FILE, MALE.
Step 3MILL -> PILL

Tile 1 changes M to P; the move is closer by letter shape. PILL has 15 legal neighbors, 1 shortest continuation, and 3 moves remaining. Other legal exits from MILL include WILL, BILL, HILL, FILL.
Step 4PILL -> POLL

Tile 2 changes I to O; the move is closer by letter shape. POLL has 12 legal neighbors, 1 shortest continuation, and 2 moves remaining. Other legal exits from PILL include PULL, PALL, WILL, BILL.
Step 5POLL -> POOL

Tile 3 changes L to O; the move is closer by letter shape. POOL has 8 legal neighbors, 1 shortest continuation, and 1 move remaining. Other legal exits from POLL include ROLL, TOLL, PULL, DOLL.
Step 6POOL -> POOP

Tile 4 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 POOL include POOR, POOF, TOOL, COOL.

Opening decision

Which first moves preserve par?

MICE has 14 legal one-letter neighbors. MIKE, MILE, DICE, MIME, LICE, MIRE keep the route at 6 moves, while sampled detours begin NICE (+1), VICE (+1), MINE (+1), RICE (+1).

Compare 10 calculated first moves

Move	Changed tile	Total	Verdict	Shortest continuations
MIKE	3: C -> K	6	Keeps par	1
MILE	3: C -> L	6	Keeps par	6
DICE	1: M -> D	6	Keeps par	1
MIME	3: C -> M	6	Keeps par	3
LICE	1: M -> L	6	Keeps par	2
MIRE	3: C -> R	6	Keeps par	1
NICE	1: M -> N	7	Adds 1 move	13
VICE	1: M -> V	7	Adds 1 move	8
MINE	3: C -> N	7	Adds 1 move	29
RICE	1: M -> R	7	Adds 1 move	17

MICE opening fingerprint

MICE groups its legal first moves as tile 1: DICE, LICE, NICE, VICE, RICE; tile 2: MACE; tile 3: MIKE, MILE, MIME, MIRE, MINE, MITE; tile 4: MICS, MICA. Two moves from the start, 101 off-route words are reachable; the nearest sampled frontier is DIME, LICK, LIME, MOLE, MORE, PIKE, PILE, TIME, BIKE, BILE, BITE, CITE, DICE, DICK, DIKE, DINE, DIRE, DIVE, FILE, FIRE, HIKE, LACE, LICE, LICH.

Your route

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Graph reading

POOL is the narrowest displayed bridge

After POLL becomes POOL, only 1 move preserves the shortest remaining distance. At the prior row, alternatives such as ROLL, TOLL, PULL, DOLL 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: live Graph synced: 2026-08-14 23:41 UTC Puzzle date: August 20, 2026