Historical route lab

Poople #503 DONG Answer

Poople #503 started at DONG on December 30, 2026. Its selective opening changes letters in the sequence D>B, G>K, N>O, K>P, B>P, with 3 par-preserving first moves.

Replay DONG Scores & notes Browse archive

Archive value: this is not a copied daily page. Its tables are calculated for DONG, including 11 legal openings and route signature 1-4-3-4-1.

Calculated from the current word graph

DONG route profile

Par5 moves6 words including start and target

Shortest routes3Exact routes in the current accepted graph

Legal first moves113 keep par

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

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 D-O-N-G. Change position 1 and keep positions 2, 3, 4 fixed. Look for a consonant-to-consonant change. 3 different first moves preserve the shortest length.

Reveal the complete 5-move answer

DONG -> BONG -> BONK -> BOOK -> BOOP -> POOP

Step 0DONGStart

Step 1BONGBridge

Step 2BONKBridge

Step 3BOOKBridge

Step 4BOOPBridge

Step 5POOPTarget

Route anatomy

What changes at every step

Step 1DONG -> BONG

Tile 1 changes D to B; the move is sideways by letter shape. BONG has 12 legal neighbors, 1 shortest continuation, and 4 moves remaining. Other legal exits from DONG include DONE, DONS, LONG, SONG.
Step 2BONG -> BONK

Tile 4 changes G to K; the move is sideways by letter shape. BONK has 13 legal neighbors, 1 shortest continuation, and 3 moves remaining. Other legal exits from BONG include BOND, BONE, BONY, LONG.
Step 3BONK -> BOOK

Tile 3 changes N to O; the move is closer by letter shape. BOOK has 17 legal neighbors, 1 shortest continuation, and 2 moves remaining. Other legal exits from BONK include BOCK, HONK, CONK, BANK.
Step 4BOOK -> BOOP

Tile 4 changes K 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 BOOK include LOOK, COOK, BOOT, HOOK.
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?

DONG has 11 legal one-letter neighbors. DONE, BONG, DONS keep the route at 5 moves, while sampled detours begin LONG (+1), SONG (+1), GONG (+1), PONG (+1).

Compare 8 calculated first moves

Move	Changed tile	Total	Verdict	Shortest continuations
DONE	4: G -> E	5	Keeps par	1
BONG	1: D -> B	5	Keeps par	1
DONS	4: G -> S	5	Keeps par	1
LONG	1: D -> L	6	Adds 1 move	1
SONG	1: D -> S	6	Adds 1 move	2
GONG	1: D -> G	6	Adds 1 move	1
PONG	1: D -> P	6	Adds 1 move	3
TONG	1: D -> T	6	Adds 1 move	11

DONG opening fingerprint

DONG groups its legal first moves as tile 1: BONG, LONG, SONG, GONG, PONG, TONG; tile 2: DING, DANG, DUNG; tile 4: DONE, DONS. Two moves from the start, 74 off-route words are reachable; the nearest sampled frontier is CONS, DOME, BOND, BONE, BONY, CONE, DOES, DOGE, DOGS, DOLE, DOMS, DONE, DONS, DOPE, DOSE, DOTE, DOTS, DOVE, DOZE, EONS, HONE, HONS, IONS, MONS.

Your route

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Graph reading

BONG is the narrowest displayed bridge

After DONG becomes BONG, only 1 move preserves the shortest remaining distance. At the prior row, alternatives such as DONE, DONS, LONG, SONG show what the route declined.

Direct-shape gains: 3
Sideways steps: 2
Temporary shape detours: 0
Steps touching a vowel: 1

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 02:37 UTC Puzzle date: December 30, 2026