Historical route lab

Poople #468 HULA Answer

Poople #468 started at HULA on November 25, 2026. Its selective opening changes letters in the sequence A>L, H>P, U>O, L>O, L>P, with 2 par-preserving first moves.

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

HULA route profile

Par5 moves6 words including start and target
Shortest routes4Exact routes in the current accepted graph
Legal first moves32 keep par
Route shapeselective openingLetter positions 4-1-2-3-4
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 H-U-L-A. Change position 4 and keep positions 1, 2, 3 fixed. Look for a vowel-to-consonant change. 2 different first moves preserve the shortest length.

Reveal the complete 5-move answer

HULA -> HULL -> PULL -> POLL -> POOL -> POOP

Step 0HULAStart
Step 1HULLBridge
Step 2PULLBridge
Step 3POLLBridge
Step 4POOLBridge
Step 5POOPTarget
Route anatomy

What changes at every step

  1. Step 1HULA -> HULL

    Tile 4 changes A to L; the move is sideways by letter shape. HULL has 15 legal neighbors, 1 shortest continuation, and 4 moves remaining. Other legal exits from HULA include PULA, HULK.

  2. Step 2HULL -> PULL

    Tile 1 changes H to P; the move is closer by letter shape. PULL has 15 legal neighbors, 1 shortest continuation, and 3 moves remaining. Other legal exits from HULL include FULL, HILL, HALL, NULL.

  3. Step 3PULL -> POLL

    Tile 2 changes U to O; the move is closer by letter shape. POLL has 12 legal neighbors, 1 shortest continuation, and 2 moves remaining. Other legal exits from PULL include PILL, PULP, PALL, FULL.

  4. Step 4POLL -> POOL

    Tile 3 changes L to O; the move is closer by letter shape. POOL has 8 legal neighbors, 1 shortest continuation, and 1 move remaining. Other legal exits from POLL include ROLL, TOLL, PILL, DOLL.

  5. Step 5POOL -> POOP

    Tile 4 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 POOL include POOR, POOF, TOOL, COOL.

Opening decision

Which first moves preserve par?

HULA has 3 legal one-letter neighbors. HULL, PULA keep the route at 5 moves, while sampled detours begin HULK (+1).

Compare 3 calculated first moves
MoveChanged tileTotalVerdictShortest continuations
HULL4: A -> L5Keeps par1
PULA1: H -> P5Keeps par3
HULK4: A -> K6Adds 1 move3

HULA opening fingerprint

HULA groups its legal first moves as tile 1: PULA; tile 4: HULL, HULK. Two moves from the start, 22 off-route words are reachable; the nearest sampled frontier is PULP, PUMA, BULL, CULL, DULL, FULL, GULL, HALL, HILL, HUCK, HUNK, LULL, MULL, NULL, PUJA, PUPA, BULK, HELL, HULK, HURL, HUSK, SULK.

Your route

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Graph reading

POOL is the narrowest displayed bridge

After POLL becomes POOL, only 1 move preserves the shortest remaining distance. At the prior row, alternatives such as ROLL, TOLL, PILL, DOLL show what the route declined.

Direct-shape gains
4
Sideways steps
1
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: 2026-08-18 15:16 UTC Puzzle date: November 25, 2026