Poople #435 started at GENE on October 23, 2026. Its narrow opening changes letters in the sequence E>O, G>C, N>M, E>P, M>O, C>P, with 1 par-preserving first moves.
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 G-E-N-E. Change position 2 and keep positions 1, 3, 4 fixed. Look for a vowel-to-vowel change. Only one first move preserves the shortest length.
Tile 2 changes E to O; the move is closer by letter shape. GONE has 11 legal neighbors, 6 shortest continuations, and 5 moves remaining. Other legal exits from GENE include GENS.
Step 2GONE -> CONE
Tile 1 changes G to C; the move is sideways by letter shape. CONE has 20 legal neighbors, 3 shortest continuations, and 4 moves remaining. Other legal exits from GONE include DONE, BONE, TONE, GORE.
Step 3CONE -> COME
Tile 3 changes N to M; the move is sideways by letter shape. COME has 17 legal neighbors, 2 shortest continuations, and 3 moves remaining. Other legal exits from CONE include CONS, CONK, CODE, DONE.
Step 4COME -> COMP
Tile 4 changes E to P; the move is closer by letter shape. COMP has 8 legal neighbors, 2 shortest continuations, and 2 moves remaining. Other legal exits from COME include POME, HOME, SOME, DOME.
Step 5COMP -> 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, CAMP.
Step 6COOP -> 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?
GENE has 2 legal one-letter neighbors, but only GONE keeps the route at 6 moves. Nearby detours begin GENS (+1).
Compare 2 calculated first moves
Move
Changed tile
Total
Verdict
Shortest continuations
GONE
2: E -> O
6
Keeps par
11
GENS
4: E -> S
7
Adds 1 move
9
GENE opening fingerprint
GENE groups its legal first moves as tile 2: GONE; tile 4: GENS. Two moves from the start, 21 off-route words are reachable; the nearest sampled frontier is BONE, DONE, GORE, HONE, TONE, DENS, GEES, GELS, GETS, GONG, HENS, LONE, NONE, PENS, TENS, ZONE, FENS, GEMS, GINS, GUNS, LENS.
Your route
Compare a path you played
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Graph reading
COOP is the narrowest displayed bridge
After COMP becomes COOP, only 1 move preserves the shortest remaining distance. At the prior row, alternatives such as POMP, COUP, ROMP, CAMP 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: liveGraph synced: 2026-08-17 08:00 UTCPuzzle date: October 23, 2026