Historical route lab

Poople #388 ITCH Answer

Poople #388 started at ITCH on September 6, 2026. Its narrow opening changes letters in the sequence I>E, T>A, E>M, A>U, H>K, M>L, U>O, C>O, K>P, L>P, with 1 par-preserving first moves.

Replay ITCH Scores & notes Browse archive
Archive value: this is not a copied daily page. Its tables are calculated for ITCH, including 2 legal openings and route signature 1-2-1-2-4-1-2-3-4-1.
Calculated from the current word graph

ITCH route profile

Par10 moves11 words including start and target
Shortest routes64Exact routes in the current accepted graph
Legal first moves21 keep par
Route shapenarrow openingLetter positions 1-2-1-2-4-1-2-3-4-1
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 I-T-C-H. Change position 1 and keep positions 2, 3, 4 fixed. Look for a vowel-to-vowel change. Only one first move preserves the shortest length.

Reveal the complete 10-move answer

ITCH -> ETCH -> EACH -> MACH -> MUCH -> MUCK -> LUCK -> LOCK -> LOOK -> LOOP -> POOP

Step 0ITCHStart
Step 1ETCHBridge
Step 2EACHBridge
Step 3MACHBridge
Step 4MUCHBridge
Step 5MUCKBridge
Step 6LUCKBridge
Step 7LOCKBridge
Step 8LOOKBridge
Step 9LOOPBridge
Step 10POOPTarget
Route anatomy

What changes at every step

  1. Step 1ITCH -> ETCH

    Tile 1 changes I to E; the move is sideways by letter shape. ETCH has 2 legal neighbors, 1 shortest continuation, and 9 moves remaining. Other legal exits from ITCH include INCH.

  2. Step 2ETCH -> EACH

    Tile 2 changes T to A; the move is sideways by letter shape. EACH has 2 legal neighbors, 1 shortest continuation, and 8 moves remaining. ETCH has no additional off-route exit in the sampled branch set.

  3. Step 3EACH -> MACH

    Tile 1 changes E to M; the move is sideways by letter shape. MACH has 6 legal neighbors, 4 shortest continuations, and 7 moves remaining. EACH has no additional off-route exit in the sampled branch set.

  4. Step 4MACH -> MUCH

    Tile 2 changes A to U; the move is sideways by letter shape. MUCH has 6 legal neighbors, 1 shortest continuation, and 6 moves remaining. Other legal exits from MACH include MATH, MASH, MACE, MECH.

  5. Step 5MUCH -> MUCK

    Tile 4 changes H to K; the move is sideways by letter shape. MUCK has 11 legal neighbors, 4 shortest continuations, and 5 moves remaining. Other legal exits from MUCH include SUCH, MUSH, MECH, OUCH.

  6. Step 6MUCK -> LUCK

    Tile 1 changes M to L; the move is sideways by letter shape. LUCK has 12 legal neighbors, 1 shortest continuation, and 4 moves remaining. Other legal exits from MUCK include BUCK, MOCK, HUCK, SUCK.

  7. Step 7LUCK -> LOCK

    Tile 2 changes U to O; the move is closer by letter shape. LOCK has 18 legal neighbors, 1 shortest continuation, and 3 moves remaining. Other legal exits from LUCK include LACK, BUCK, LICK, HUCK.

  8. Step 8LOCK -> LOOK

    Tile 3 changes C to O; the move is closer by letter shape. LOOK has 13 legal neighbors, 1 shortest continuation, and 2 moves remaining. Other legal exits from LOCK include COCK, BOCK, HOCK, ROCK.

  9. Step 9LOOK -> LOOP

    Tile 4 changes K 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 LOOK include BOOK, COOK, HOOK, LOOM.

  10. Step 10LOOP -> 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?

ITCH has 2 legal one-letter neighbors, but only ETCH keeps the route at 10 moves. Nearby detours begin INCH (+2).

Compare 2 calculated first moves
MoveChanged tileTotalVerdictShortest continuations
ETCH1: I -> E10Keeps par64
INCH2: T -> N12Adds 2 moves64

ITCH opening fingerprint

ITCH groups its legal first moves as tile 1: ETCH; tile 2: INCH. Two moves from the start, 0 off-route words are reachable; the nearest sampled frontier is empty.

Your route

Compare a path you played

Your route stays in this browser; it is not submitted.
Graph reading

ETCH is the narrowest displayed bridge

After ITCH becomes ETCH, only 1 move preserves the shortest remaining distance. At the prior row, alternatives such as INCH show what the route declined.

Direct-shape gains
4
Sideways steps
6
Temporary shape detours
0
Steps touching a vowel
6

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: 2026-08-15 14:37 UTC Puzzle date: September 6, 2026