Historical route lab

Poople #508 RAIL Answer

Poople #508 started at RAIL on January 4, 2027. Its flexible opening changes letters in the sequence R>F, A>O, I>O, F>P, L>P, with 4 par-preserving first moves.

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Archive value: this is not a copied daily page. Its tables are calculated for RAIL, including 13 legal openings and route signature 1-2-3-1-4.

Calculated from the current word graph

RAIL route profile

Par5 moves6 words including start and target

Shortest routes8Exact routes in the current accepted graph

Legal first moves134 keep par

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

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

Reveal the complete 5-move answer

RAIL -> FAIL -> FOIL -> FOOL -> POOL -> POOP

Step 0RAILStart

Step 1FAILBridge

Step 2FOILBridge

Step 3FOOLBridge

Step 4POOLBridge

Step 5POOPTarget

Route anatomy

What changes at every step

Step 1RAIL -> FAIL

Tile 1 changes R to F; the move is sideways by letter shape. FAIL has 14 legal neighbors, 1 shortest continuation, and 4 moves remaining. Other legal exits from RAIL include TAIL, PAIL, ROIL, MAIL.
Step 2FAIL -> FOIL

Tile 2 changes A to O; the move is closer by letter shape. FOIL has 10 legal neighbors, 1 shortest continuation, and 3 moves remaining. Other legal exits from FAIL include FALL, TAIL, PAIL, MAIL.
Step 3FOIL -> FOOL

Tile 3 changes I to O; the move is closer by letter shape. FOOL has 10 legal neighbors, 1 shortest continuation, and 2 moves remaining. Other legal exits from FOIL include FOUL, COIL, FOWL, TOIL.
Step 4FOOL -> 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, FOOD.
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?

RAIL has 13 legal one-letter neighbors. FAIL, TAIL, PAIL, ROIL keep the route at 5 moves, while sampled detours begin MAIL (+1), RAIN (+1), NAIL (+1), RAID (+1).

Compare 8 calculated first moves

Move	Changed tile	Total	Verdict	Shortest continuations
FAIL	1: R -> F	5	Keeps par	1
TAIL	1: R -> T	5	Keeps par	1
PAIL	1: R -> P	5	Keeps par	1
ROIL	2: A -> O	5	Keeps par	5
MAIL	1: R -> M	6	Adds 1 move	4
RAIN	4: L -> N	6	Adds 1 move	1
NAIL	1: R -> N	6	Adds 1 move	3
RAID	4: L -> D	6	Adds 1 move	3

RAIL opening fingerprint

RAIL groups its legal first moves as tile 1: FAIL, TAIL, PAIL, MAIL, NAIL, JAIL, SAIL, BAIL, HAIL, WAIL; tile 2: ROIL; tile 4: RAIN, RAID. Two moves from the start, 48 off-route words are reachable; the nearest sampled frontier is COIL, PALL, ROLL, TOIL, BALL, BOIL, FALL, HALL, LAIN, MALL, PAIL, ROID, SOIL, TAIL, TALL, WALL, BAIL, BAWL, FAIN, FAIR, GAIN, HAIL, HAUL, JAIL.

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, FOOD 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: 2026-08-20 07:37 UTC Puzzle date: January 4, 2027