Historical route lab

Poople #396 CARS Answer

Poople #396 started at CARS on September 14, 2026. Its flexible opening changes letters in the sequence R>M, S>P, A>O, M>O, C>P, with 8 par-preserving first moves.

Replay CARS Scores & notes Browse archive

Archive value: this is not a copied daily page. Its tables are calculated for CARS, including 23 legal openings and route signature 3-4-2-3-1.

Calculated from the current word graph

CARS route profile

Par5 moves6 words including start and target

Shortest routes10Exact routes in the current accepted graph

Legal first moves238 keep par

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

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 C-A-R-S. Change position 3 and keep positions 1, 2, 4 fixed. Look for a consonant-to-consonant change. 8 different first moves preserve the shortest length.

Reveal the complete 5-move answer

CARS -> CAMS -> CAMP -> COMP -> COOP -> POOP

Step 0CARSStart

Step 1CAMSBridge

Step 2CAMPBridge

Step 3COMPBridge

Step 4COOPBridge

Step 5POOPTarget

Route anatomy

What changes at every step

Step 1CARS -> CAMS

Tile 3 changes R to M; the move is sideways by letter shape. CAMS has 18 legal neighbors, 1 shortest continuation, and 4 moves remaining. Other legal exits from CARS include CATS, CAPS, CANS, CARP.
Step 2CAMS -> CAMP

Tile 4 changes S to P; the move is closer by letter shape. CAMP has 11 legal neighbors, 1 shortest continuation, and 3 moves remaining. Other legal exits from CAMS include CAME, CATS, CAPS, CANS.
Step 3CAMP -> COMP

Tile 2 changes A to O; the move is closer by letter shape. COMP has 8 legal neighbors, 2 shortest continuations, and 2 moves remaining. Other legal exits from CAMP include RAMP, CAME, LAMP, CARP.
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, COME.
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?

CARS has 23 legal one-letter neighbors. CATS, CAPS, CAMS, CANS, CARP, CABS, CADS, CAWS keep the route at 5 moves, while sampled detours begin CARE (+1), CARD (+1), CART (+1), BARS (+1).

Compare 12 calculated first moves

Move	Changed tile	Total	Verdict	Shortest continuations
CATS	3: R -> T	5	Keeps par	1
CAPS	3: R -> P	5	Keeps par	1
CAMS	3: R -> M	5	Keeps par	2
CANS	3: R -> N	5	Keeps par	1
CARP	4: S -> P	5	Keeps par	2
CABS	3: R -> B	5	Keeps par	1
CADS	3: R -> D	5	Keeps par	1
CAWS	3: R -> W	5	Keeps par	1
CARE	4: S -> E	6	Adds 1 move	13
CARD	4: S -> D	6	Adds 1 move	3
CART	4: S -> T	6	Adds 1 move	3
BARS	1: C -> B	6	Adds 1 move	6

CARS opening fingerprint

CARS groups its legal first moves as tile 1: BARS, EARS, PARS, WARS, MARS, JARS, SARS, OARS, TARS, GARS; tile 2: CURS; tile 3: CATS, CAPS, CAMS, CANS, CABS, CADS, CAWS; tile 4: CARP, CARE, CARD, CART, CARB. Two moves from the start, 177 off-route words are reachable; the nearest sampled frontier is COBS, CODS, CONS, COPS, COTS, COWS, BAAS, BAGS, BARN, BASS, BATS, BAYS, CABS, CADS, CAME, CAMI, CAMO, CANS, CAPS, CARP, CAST, CATS, CAWS, CORD.

Your route

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Graph reading

CAMP is the narrowest displayed bridge

After CAMS becomes CAMP, only 1 move preserves the shortest remaining distance. At the prior row, alternatives such as CAME, CATS, CAPS, CANS show what the route declined.

Direct-shape gains: 4
Sideways steps: 1
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: 2026-08-15 22:01 UTC Puzzle date: September 14, 2026