Poople #539 started at JUKE on February 4, 2027. Its selective opening changes letters in the sequence U>O, J>P, K>M, E>P, M>O, with 2 par-preserving first moves.
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 J-U-K-E. Change position 2 and keep positions 1, 3, 4 fixed. Look for a vowel-to-vowel change. 2 different first moves preserve the shortest length.
Reveal the complete 5-move answer
JUKE -> JOKE -> POKE -> POME -> POMP -> POOP
Step 0JUKEStart
Step 1JOKEBridge
Step 2POKEBridge
Step 3POMEBridge
Step 4POMPBridge
Step 5POOPTarget
Route anatomy
What changes at every step
Step 1JUKE -> JOKE
Tile 2 changes U to O; the move is closer by letter shape. JOKE has 6 legal neighbors, 1 shortest continuation, and 4 moves remaining. Other legal exits from JUKE include PUKE, DUKE, NUKE, JURE.
Step 2JOKE -> POKE
Tile 1 changes J to P; the move is closer by letter shape. POKE has 12 legal neighbors, 1 shortest continuation, and 3 moves remaining. Other legal exits from JOKE include COKE, WOKE, YOKE, TOKE.
Step 3POKE -> POME
Tile 3 changes K to M; the move is sideways by letter shape. POME has 11 legal neighbors, 1 shortest continuation, and 2 moves remaining. Other legal exits from POKE include POLE, POPE, POSE, PORE.
Step 4POME -> POMP
Tile 4 changes E to P; the move is closer by letter shape. POMP has 6 legal neighbors, 1 shortest continuation, and 1 move remaining. Other legal exits from POME include HOME, SOME, COME, POLE.
Step 5POMP -> POOP
Tile 3 changes M to O; the move is closer by letter shape. POOP has 11 legal neighbors, target reached, and 0 moves remaining. Other legal exits from POMP include PUMP, COMP, PIMP, ROMP.
Opening decision
Which first moves preserve par?
JUKE has 5 legal one-letter neighbors. JOKE, PUKE keep the route at 5 moves, while sampled detours begin DUKE (+1), NUKE (+1), JURE (+1).
Compare 5 calculated first moves
Move
Changed tile
Total
Verdict
Shortest continuations
JOKE
2: U -> O
5
Keeps par
1
PUKE
1: J -> P
5
Keeps par
1
DUKE
1: J -> D
6
Adds 1 move
1
NUKE
1: J -> N
6
Adds 1 move
1
JURE
3: K -> R
6
Adds 1 move
1
JUKE opening fingerprint
JUKE groups its legal first moves as tile 1: PUKE, DUKE, NUKE; tile 2: JOKE; tile 3: JURE. Two moves from the start, 20 off-route words are reachable; the nearest sampled frontier is COKE, PIKE, PUKE, PURE, TOKE, WOKE, YOKE, CURE, DIKE, DUKE, DUNE, DUPE, LURE, NUKE, PUBE, PUCE, SURE, DUDE, JURY, NUDE.
Your route
Compare a path you played
Your route stays in this browser; it is not submitted.
Graph reading
JOKE is the narrowest displayed bridge
After JUKE becomes JOKE, only 1 move preserves the shortest remaining distance. At the prior row, alternatives such as PUKE, DUKE, NUKE, JURE 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: liveGraph synced: 2026-08-21 12:33 UTCPuzzle date: February 4, 2027