Historical route lab

Poople #398 WHAT Answer

Poople #398 started at WHAT on September 16, 2026. Its selective opening changes letters in the sequence W>C, T>P, A>O, H>O, C>P, with 3 par-preserving first moves.

Replay WHAT Scores & notes Browse archive

Archive value: this is not a copied daily page. Its tables are calculated for WHAT, including 8 legal openings and route signature 1-4-3-2-1.

Calculated from the current word graph

WHAT route profile

Par5 moves6 words including start and target

Shortest routes5Exact routes in the current accepted graph

Legal first moves83 keep par

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

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

Reveal the complete 5-move answer

WHAT -> CHAT -> CHAP -> CHOP -> COOP -> POOP

Step 0WHATStart

Step 1CHATBridge

Step 2CHAPBridge

Step 3CHOPBridge

Step 4COOPBridge

Step 5POOPTarget

Route anatomy

What changes at every step

Step 1WHAT -> CHAT

Tile 1 changes W to C; the move is sideways by letter shape. CHAT has 10 legal neighbors, 2 shortest continuations, and 4 moves remaining. Other legal exits from WHAT include PHAT, WHAP, THAT, WHIT.
Step 2CHAT -> CHAP

Tile 4 changes T to P; the move is closer by letter shape. CHAP has 9 legal neighbors, 1 shortest continuation, and 3 moves remaining. Other legal exits from CHAT include COAT, CHAR, PHAT, CHIT.
Step 3CHAP -> CHOP

Tile 3 changes A to O; the move is closer by letter shape. CHOP has 7 legal neighbors, 1 shortest continuation, and 2 moves remaining. Other legal exits from CHAP include CHIP, CRAP, CLAP, CHAR.
Step 4CHOP -> COOP

Tile 2 changes H 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 CHOP include CROP, CLOP, SHOP, CHIP.
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?

WHAT has 8 legal one-letter neighbors. CHAT, PHAT, WHAP keep the route at 5 moves, while sampled detours begin THAT (+1), WHIT (+1), WHAM (+1), SHAT (+1).

Compare 8 calculated first moves

Move	Changed tile	Total	Verdict	Shortest continuations
CHAT	1: W -> C	5	Keeps par	2
PHAT	1: W -> P	5	Keeps par	2
WHAP	4: T -> P	5	Keeps par	1
THAT	1: W -> T	6	Adds 1 move	4
WHIT	3: A -> I	6	Adds 1 move	2
WHAM	4: T -> M	6	Adds 1 move	1
SHAT	1: W -> S	6	Adds 1 move	18
WHET	3: A -> E	7	Adds 2 moves	8

WHAT opening fingerprint

WHAT groups its legal first moves as tile 1: CHAT, PHAT, THAT, SHAT; tile 3: WHIT, WHET; tile 4: WHAP, WHAM. Two moves from the start, 43 off-route words are reachable; the nearest sampled frontier is COAT, PLAT, CHAI, CHAR, CHAW, CHIT, PEAT, PHAT, PRAT, SHOT, SLAT, WHAP, WHIP, WRAP, SCAT, SEAT, SHAG, SHAM, SHAT, SHAW, SHIT, SHUT, SPAT, STAT.

Your route

Compare a path you played

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

Graph reading

CHOP is the narrowest displayed bridge

After CHAP becomes CHOP, only 1 move preserves the shortest remaining distance. At the prior row, alternatives such as CHIP, CRAP, CLAP, CHAR 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 23:36 UTC Puzzle date: September 16, 2026