Poople #490 started at GNAT on December 17, 2026. Its narrow opening changes letters in the sequence N>O, G>B, A>O, T>P, B>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-N-A-T. Change position 2 and keep positions 1, 3, 4 fixed. Look for a consonant-to-vowel change. Only one first move preserves the shortest length.
Reveal the complete 5-move answer
GNAT -> GOAT -> BOAT -> BOOT -> BOOP -> POOP
Step 0GNATStart
Step 1GOATBridge
Step 2BOATBridge
Step 3BOOTBridge
Step 4BOOPBridge
Step 5POOPTarget
Route anatomy
What changes at every step
Step 1GNAT -> GOAT
Tile 2 changes N to O; the move is closer by letter shape. GOAT has 7 legal neighbors, 3 shortest continuations, and 4 moves remaining. Other legal exits from GNAT include GNAW.
Step 2GOAT -> BOAT
Tile 1 changes G to B; the move is sideways by letter shape. BOAT has 11 legal neighbors, 1 shortest continuation, and 3 moves remaining. Other legal exits from GOAT include COAT, GOAD, GOAL, GOUT.
Step 3BOAT -> BOOT
Tile 3 changes A to O; the move is closer by letter shape. BOOT has 20 legal neighbors, 1 shortest continuation, and 2 moves remaining. Other legal exits from BOAT include COAT, BOLT, BOUT, BOAR.
Step 4BOOT -> BOOP
Tile 4 changes T 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 BOOT include BOOK, BOOB, BOOM, BOON.
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?
GNAT has 2 legal one-letter neighbors, but only GOAT keeps the route at 5 moves. Nearby detours begin GNAW (+2).
Compare 2 calculated first moves
Move
Changed tile
Total
Verdict
Shortest continuations
GOAT
2: N -> O
5
Keeps par
3
GNAW
4: T -> W
7
Adds 2 moves
3
GNAT opening fingerprint
GNAT groups its legal first moves as tile 2: GOAT; tile 4: GNAW. Two moves from the start, 5 off-route words are reachable; the nearest sampled frontier is COAT, GOAD, GOAL, GOUT, MOAT.
Your route
Compare a path you played
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Graph reading
BOAT is the narrowest displayed bridge
After GOAT becomes BOAT, only 1 move preserves the shortest remaining distance. At the prior row, alternatives such as COAT, GOAD, GOAL, GOUT 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: liveGraph synced: 2026-08-19 13:31 UTCPuzzle date: December 17, 2026