Historical route lab

Poople #500 WILD Answer

Poople #500 started at WILD on December 27, 2026. Its selective opening changes letters in the sequence D>L, W>P, I>O, L>O, L>P, with 2 par-preserving first moves.

Replay WILD Scores & notes Browse archive

Archive value: this is not a copied daily page. Its tables are calculated for WILD, including 8 legal openings and route signature 4-1-2-3-4.

Calculated from the current word graph

WILD route profile

Par5 moves6 words including start and target

Shortest routes2Exact routes in the current accepted graph

Legal first moves82 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 W-I-L-D. Change position 4 and keep positions 1, 2, 3 fixed. Look for a consonant-to-consonant change. 2 different first moves preserve the shortest length.

Reveal the complete 5-move answer

WILD -> WILL -> PILL -> POLL -> POOL -> POOP

Step 0WILDStart

Step 1WILLBridge

Step 2PILLBridge

Step 3POLLBridge

Step 4POOLBridge

Step 5POOPTarget

Route anatomy

What changes at every step

Step 1WILD -> WILL

Tile 4 changes D to L; the move is sideways by letter shape. WILL has 17 legal neighbors, 1 shortest continuation, and 4 moves remaining. Other legal exits from WILD include GILD, MILD, WELD, WILT.
Step 2WILL -> PILL

Tile 1 changes W to P; the move is closer by letter shape. PILL has 15 legal neighbors, 1 shortest continuation, and 3 moves remaining. Other legal exits from WILL include BILL, HILL, WALL, FILL.
Step 3PILL -> POLL

Tile 2 changes I 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 PILL include PULL, PALL, BILL, HILL.
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, PULL, DOLL.
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?

WILD has 8 legal one-letter neighbors. WILL, GILD keep the route at 5 moves, while sampled detours begin MILD (+1), WELD (+1), WILT (+1), WILY (+1).

Compare 8 calculated first moves

Move	Changed tile	Total	Verdict	Shortest continuations
WILL	4: D -> L	5	Keeps par	1
GILD	1: W -> G	5	Keeps par	1
MILD	1: W -> M	6	Adds 1 move	7
WELD	2: I -> E	6	Adds 1 move	2
WILT	4: D -> T	6	Adds 1 move	2
WILY	4: D -> Y	6	Adds 1 move	1
WILE	4: D -> E	6	Adds 1 move	4
WIND	3: L -> N	7	Adds 2 moves	6

WILD opening fingerprint

WILD groups its legal first moves as tile 1: GILD, MILD; tile 2: WELD; tile 3: WIND; tile 4: WILL, WILT, WILY, WILE. Two moves from the start, 62 off-route words are reachable; the nearest sampled frontier is GOLD, BILL, DILL, FILL, GELD, GILD, GILL, HELD, HILL, HILT, KILL, MILL, MOLD, PILE, RILL, SILL, TILL, WALL, BILE, BIND, FILE, FIND, GILT, GIRD.

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, PULL, DOLL 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 23:19 UTC Puzzle date: December 27, 2026