Historical route lab

Poople #392 RACE Answer

Poople #392 started at RACE on September 10, 2026. Its flexible opening changes letters in the sequence E>K, A>O, R>L, C>O, K>P, L>P, with 5 par-preserving first moves.

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

Calculated from the current word graph

RACE route profile

Par6 moves7 words including start and target

Shortest routes20Exact routes in the current accepted graph

Legal first moves145 keep par

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

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 R-A-C-E. Change position 4 and keep positions 1, 2, 3 fixed. Look for a vowel-to-consonant change. 5 different first moves preserve the shortest length.

Reveal the complete 6-move answer

RACE -> RACK -> ROCK -> LOCK -> LOOK -> LOOP -> POOP

Step 0RACEStart

Step 1RACKBridge

Step 2ROCKBridge

Step 3LOCKBridge

Step 4LOOKBridge

Step 5LOOPBridge

Step 6POOPTarget

Route anatomy

What changes at every step

Step 1RACE -> RACK

Tile 4 changes E to K; the move is sideways by letter shape. RACK has 12 legal neighbors, 4 shortest continuations, and 5 moves remaining. Other legal exits from RACE include RARE, PACE, LACE, RASE.
Step 2RACK -> ROCK

Tile 2 changes A to O; the move is closer by letter shape. ROCK has 14 legal neighbors, 5 shortest continuations, and 4 moves remaining. Other legal exits from RACK include BACK, LACK, HACK, PACK.
Step 3ROCK -> LOCK

Tile 1 changes R to L; the move is sideways by letter shape. LOCK has 18 legal neighbors, 1 shortest continuation, and 3 moves remaining. Other legal exits from ROCK include COCK, BOCK, ROOK, HOCK.
Step 4LOCK -> 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, LACK.
Step 5LOOK -> 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.
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?

RACE has 14 legal one-letter neighbors. RARE, RACK, PACE, LACE, RASE keep the route at 6 moves, while sampled detours begin RATE (+1), FACE (+1), RICE (+1), RAGE (+1).

Compare 9 calculated first moves

Move	Changed tile	Total	Verdict	Shortest continuations
RARE	3: C -> R	6	Keeps par	1
RACK	4: E -> K	6	Keeps par	12
PACE	1: R -> P	6	Keeps par	4
LACE	1: R -> L	6	Keeps par	1
RASE	3: C -> S	6	Keeps par	2
RATE	3: C -> T	7	Adds 1 move	28
FACE	1: R -> F	7	Adds 1 move	15
RICE	2: A -> I	7	Adds 1 move	17
RAGE	3: C -> G	7	Adds 1 move	15

RACE opening fingerprint

RACE groups its legal first moves as tile 1: PACE, LACE, FACE, MACE; tile 2: RICE; tile 3: RARE, RASE, RATE, RAGE, RAVE, RAKE, RAZE; tile 4: RACK, RACY. Two moves from the start, 109 off-route words are reachable; the nearest sampled frontier is BACK, HACK, LACK, PALE, PARE, RASP, ROSE, BARE, BASE, CAGE, CAKE, CARE, CASE, CAVE, DARE, DATE, DAZE, DICE, FAME, FARE, HARE, JACK, LACE, LACY.

Your route

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Graph reading

LOOP is the narrowest displayed bridge

After LOOK becomes LOOP, only 1 move preserves the shortest remaining distance. At the prior row, alternatives such as BOOK, COOK, HOOK, LOOM 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: 2026-08-15 18:23 UTC Puzzle date: September 10, 2026