Historical route lab

Poople #501 CAVE Answer

Poople #501 started at CAVE on December 28, 2026. Its selective opening changes letters in the sequence V>M, A>O, E>P, M>O, C>P, with 2 par-preserving first moves.

Replay CAVE Scores & notes Browse archive

Archive value: this is not a copied daily page. Its tables are calculated for CAVE, including 19 legal openings and route signature 3-2-4-3-1.

Calculated from the current word graph

CAVE route profile

Par5 moves6 words including start and target

Shortest routes8Exact routes in the current accepted graph

Legal first moves192 keep par

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

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 C-A-V-E. Change position 3 and keep positions 1, 2, 4 fixed. Look for a consonant-to-consonant change. 2 different first moves preserve the shortest length.

Reveal the complete 5-move answer

CAVE -> CAME -> COME -> COMP -> COOP -> POOP

Step 0CAVEStart

Step 1CAMEBridge

Step 2COMEBridge

Step 3COMPBridge

Step 4COOPBridge

Step 5POOPTarget

Route anatomy

What changes at every step

Step 1CAVE -> CAME

Tile 3 changes V to M; the move is sideways by letter shape. CAME has 20 legal neighbors, 2 shortest continuations, and 4 moves remaining. Other legal exits from CAVE include COVE, CASE, CARE, SAVE.
Step 2CAME -> COME

Tile 2 changes A to O; the move is closer by letter shape. COME has 17 legal neighbors, 2 shortest continuations, and 3 moves remaining. Other legal exits from CAME include CAMP, SAME, CAMS, DAME.
Step 3COME -> COMP

Tile 4 changes E to P; the move is closer by letter shape. COMP has 8 legal neighbors, 2 shortest continuations, and 2 moves remaining. Other legal exits from COME include POME, HOME, SOME, DOME.
Step 4COMP -> COOP

Tile 3 changes M to O; the move is closer by letter shape. COOP has 14 legal neighbors, 1 shortest continuation, and 1 move remaining. Other legal exits from COMP include POMP, COUP, ROMP, CAMP.
Step 5COOP -> POOP

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

Opening decision

Which first moves preserve par?

CAVE has 19 legal one-letter neighbors. CAME, COVE keep the route at 5 moves, while sampled detours begin CASE (+1), CARE (+1), SAVE (+1), CAPE (+1).

Compare 8 calculated first moves

Move	Changed tile	Total	Verdict	Shortest continuations
CAME	3: V -> M	5	Keeps par	5
COVE	2: A -> O	5	Keeps par	3
CASE	3: V -> S	6	Adds 1 move	6
CARE	3: V -> R	6	Adds 1 move	13
SAVE	1: C -> S	6	Adds 1 move	1
CAPE	3: V -> P	6	Adds 1 move	11
CAKE	3: V -> K	6	Adds 1 move	9
CAFE	3: V -> F	6	Adds 1 move	5

CAVE opening fingerprint

CAVE groups its legal first moves as tile 1: SAVE, PAVE, HAVE, GAVE, WAVE, FAVE, RAVE, NAVE, LAVE, EAVE; tile 2: COVE; tile 3: CAME, CASE, CARE, CAPE, CAKE, CAFE, CAGE, CANE. Two moves from the start, 123 off-route words are reachable; the nearest sampled frontier is CAMP, CAMI, CAMO, CAMS, CANS, CAPS, CARP, CAST, CODE, COKE, COLE, CONE, COPE, CORE, COTE, DAME, DOVE, PALE, PARE, SAME, TAME, BANE, BARE, BASE.

Your route

Compare a path you played

Your route stays in this browser; it is not submitted.

Graph reading

COOP is the narrowest displayed bridge

After COMP becomes COOP, only 1 move preserves the shortest remaining distance. At the prior row, alternatives such as POMP, COUP, ROMP, CAMP 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: 2026-08-20 00:32 UTC Puzzle date: December 28, 2026