Historical route lab

Poople #478 LAYS Answer

Poople #478 started at LAYS on December 5, 2026. Its narrow opening changes letters in the sequence L>B, A>O, Y>O, S>P, B>P, with 1 par-preserving first moves.

Replay LAYS Scores & notes Browse archive

Archive value: this is not a copied daily page. Its tables are calculated for LAYS, including 16 legal openings and route signature 1-2-3-4-1.

Calculated from the current word graph

LAYS route profile

Par5 moves6 words including start and target

Shortest routes1Exact routes in the current accepted graph

Legal first moves161 keep par

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

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 L-A-Y-S. Change position 1 and keep positions 2, 3, 4 fixed. Look for a consonant-to-consonant change. Only one first move preserves the shortest length.

Reveal the complete 5-move answer

LAYS -> BAYS -> BOYS -> BOOS -> BOOP -> POOP

Step 0LAYSStart

Step 1BAYSBridge

Step 2BOYSBridge

Step 3BOOSBridge

Step 4BOOPBridge

Step 5POOPTarget

Route anatomy

What changes at every step

Step 1LAYS -> BAYS

Tile 1 changes L to B; the move is sideways by letter shape. BAYS has 17 legal neighbors, 1 shortest continuation, and 4 moves remaining. Other legal exits from LAYS include DAYS, SAYS, WAYS, LAWS.
Step 2BAYS -> BOYS

Tile 2 changes A to O; the move is closer by letter shape. BOYS has 13 legal neighbors, 1 shortest continuation, and 3 moves remaining. Other legal exits from BAYS include BAGS, BASS, BUYS, BATS.
Step 3BOYS -> BOOS

Tile 3 changes Y to O; the move is closer by letter shape. BOOS has 21 legal neighbors, 1 shortest continuation, and 2 moves remaining. Other legal exits from BOYS include BOSS, BOTS, BOWS, BOBS.
Step 4BOOS -> BOOP

Tile 4 changes S to P; the move is closer by letter shape. BOOP has 12 legal neighbors, 1 shortest continuation, and 1 move remaining. Other legal exits from BOOS include BOOK, BOOT, BOOB, BOOM.
Step 5BOOP -> POOP

Tile 1 changes B to P; the move is closer by letter shape. POOP has 11 legal neighbors, target reached, and 0 moves remaining. Other legal exits from BOOP include LOOP, COOP, HOOP, GOOP.

Opening decision

Which first moves preserve par?

LAYS has 16 legal one-letter neighbors, but only BAYS keeps the route at 5 moves. Nearby detours begin DAYS (+1), SAYS (+1), WAYS (+1), LAWS (+1).

Compare 8 calculated first moves

Move	Changed tile	Total	Verdict	Shortest continuations
BAYS	1: L -> B	5	Keeps par	1
DAYS	1: L -> D	6	Adds 1 move	1
SAYS	1: L -> S	6	Adds 1 move	1
WAYS	1: L -> W	6	Adds 1 move	1
LAWS	3: Y -> W	6	Adds 1 move	3
LABS	3: Y -> B	6	Adds 1 move	3
PAYS	1: L -> P	6	Adds 1 move	2
RAYS	1: L -> R	6	Adds 1 move	2

LAYS opening fingerprint

LAYS groups its legal first moves as tile 1: BAYS, DAYS, SAYS, WAYS, PAYS, RAYS, GAYS, JAYS, NAYS; tile 3: LAWS, LABS, LAPS, LADS, LASS, LAGS, LATS. Two moves from the start, 116 off-route words are reachable; the nearest sampled frontier is BAAS, BAGS, BASS, BATS, BUYS, CABS, CADS, CAPS, CATS, CAWS, JOYS, LAST, LOBS, LOGS, LOPS, LOSS, LOTS, LOWS, PALS, RAMS, BANS, BARS, DABS, DADS.

Your route

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Graph reading

BOOP is the narrowest displayed bridge

After BOOS becomes BOOP, only 1 move preserves the shortest remaining distance. At the prior row, alternatives such as BOOK, BOOT, BOOB, BOOM 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: 2026-08-19 01:33 UTC Puzzle date: December 5, 2026