Historical route lab

Poople #491 KING Answer

Poople #491 started at KING on December 18, 2026. Its flexible opening changes letters in the sequence G>D, K>F, I>O, N>O, D>L, F>P, L>P, with 8 par-preserving first moves.

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Archive value: this is not a copied daily page. Its tables are calculated for KING, including 11 legal openings and route signature 4-1-2-3-4-1-4.
Calculated from the current word graph

KING route profile

Par7 moves8 words including start and target
Shortest routes81Exact routes in the current accepted graph
Legal first moves118 keep par
Route shapeflexible openingLetter positions 4-1-2-3-4-1-4
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 K-I-N-G. Change position 4 and keep positions 1, 2, 3 fixed. Look for a consonant-to-consonant change. 8 different first moves preserve the shortest length.

Reveal the complete 7-move answer

KING -> KIND -> FIND -> FOND -> FOOD -> FOOL -> POOL -> POOP

Step 0KINGStart
Step 1KINDBridge
Step 2FINDBridge
Step 3FONDBridge
Step 4FOODBridge
Step 5FOOLBridge
Step 6POOLBridge
Step 7POOPTarget
Route anatomy

What changes at every step

  1. Step 1KING -> KIND

    Tile 4 changes G to D; the move is sideways by letter shape. KIND has 9 legal neighbors, 2 shortest continuations, and 6 moves remaining. Other legal exits from KING include SING, PING, DING, TING.

  2. Step 2KIND -> FIND

    Tile 1 changes K to F; the move is sideways by letter shape. FIND has 11 legal neighbors, 1 shortest continuation, and 5 moves remaining. Other legal exits from KIND include BIND, MIND, WIND, KINK.

  3. Step 3FIND -> FOND

    Tile 2 changes I to O; the move is closer by letter shape. FOND has 9 legal neighbors, 1 shortest continuation, and 4 moves remaining. Other legal exits from FIND include FUND, BIND, FEND, MIND.

  4. Step 4FOND -> FOOD

    Tile 3 changes N to O; the move is closer by letter shape. FOOD has 10 legal neighbors, 3 shortest continuations, and 3 moves remaining. Other legal exits from FOND include FORD, FONT, BOND, FOLD.

  5. Step 5FOOD -> FOOL

    Tile 4 changes D to L; the move is sideways by letter shape. FOOL has 10 legal neighbors, 1 shortest continuation, and 2 moves remaining. Other legal exits from FOOD include GOOD, HOOD, WOOD, FOOT.

  6. Step 6FOOL -> POOL

    Tile 1 changes F to P; the move is closer by letter shape. POOL has 8 legal neighbors, 1 shortest continuation, and 1 move remaining. Other legal exits from FOOL include TOOL, COOL, WOOL, FOOT.

  7. Step 7POOL -> 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?

KING has 11 legal one-letter neighbors. KIND, SING, PING, DING, TING, KINK, KINE, KINS keep the route at 7 moves, while sampled detours begin RING (+1), WING (+1), ZING (+1).

Compare 11 calculated first moves
MoveChanged tileTotalVerdictShortest continuations
KIND4: G -> D7Keeps par4
SING1: K -> S7Keeps par3
PING1: K -> P7Keeps par9
DING1: K -> D7Keeps par5
TING1: K -> T7Keeps par22
KINK4: G -> K7Keeps par19
KINE4: G -> E7Keeps par10
KINS4: G -> S7Keeps par9
RING1: K -> R8Adds 1 move76
WING1: K -> W8Adds 1 move92
ZING1: K -> Z8Adds 1 move62

KING opening fingerprint

KING groups its legal first moves as tile 1: SING, PING, DING, TING, RING, WING, ZING; tile 4: KIND, KINK, KINE, KINS. Two moves from the start, 67 off-route words are reachable; the nearest sampled frontier is BIND, BINS, DINE, DONG, KICK, KIDS, KITS, LINE, LINK, MINK, PINE, PINS, PONG, SINS, SONG, TINE, TINK, TINS, TONG, DANG, DING, DINK, DINO, DINT.

Your route

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Graph reading

POOL is the narrowest displayed bridge

After FOOL becomes POOL, only 1 move preserves the shortest remaining distance. At the prior row, alternatives such as TOOL, COOL, WOOL, FOOT show what the route declined.

Direct-shape gains
4
Sideways steps
3
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 14:33 UTC Puzzle date: December 18, 2026