Poople #570 started at WHOA on March 7, 2027. Its narrow opening changes letters in the sequence A>M, O>I, M>P, W>C, I>O, H>O, C>P, with 1 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 W-H-O-A. Change position 4 and keep positions 1, 2, 3 fixed. Look for a vowel-to-consonant change. Only one first move preserves the shortest length.
Tile 4 changes A to M; the move is sideways by letter shape. WHOM has 3 legal neighbors, 2 shortest continuations, and 6 moves remaining. WHOA has no additional off-route exit in the sampled branch set.
Step 2WHOM -> WHIM
Tile 3 changes O to I; the move is temporarily farther by letter shape. WHIM has 7 legal neighbors, 1 shortest continuation, and 5 moves remaining. Other legal exits from WHOM include WHAM.
Step 3WHIM -> WHIP
Tile 4 changes M to P; the move is closer by letter shape. WHIP has 7 legal neighbors, 1 shortest continuation, and 4 moves remaining. Other legal exits from WHIM include WHIT, WHAM, WHIZ, SHIM.
Step 4WHIP -> CHIP
Tile 1 changes W to C; the move is sideways by letter shape. CHIP has 9 legal neighbors, 1 shortest continuation, and 3 moves remaining. Other legal exits from WHIP include SHIP, WHAP, WHIT, WHIZ.
Step 5CHIP -> CHOP
Tile 3 changes I to O; the move is closer by letter shape. CHOP has 7 legal neighbors, 1 shortest continuation, and 2 moves remaining. Other legal exits from CHIP include CLIP, CHAP, SHIP, CHIN.
Step 6CHOP -> COOP
Tile 2 changes H 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 CHOP include CROP, CLOP, SHOP, CHAP.
Step 7COOP -> 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?
WHOA has 1 legal one-letter neighbors, but only WHOM keeps the route at 7 moves. Nearby detours begin outside the sampled opening set.
Compare 1 calculated first moves
Move
Changed tile
Total
Verdict
Shortest continuations
WHOM
4: A -> M
7
Keeps par
2
WHOA opening fingerprint
WHOA groups its legal first moves as tile 4: WHOM. Two moves from the start, 1 off-route words are reachable; the nearest sampled frontier is WHAM.
Your route
Compare a path you played
Your route stays in this browser; it is not submitted.
Graph reading
WHIM is the narrowest displayed bridge
After WHOM becomes WHIM, only 1 move preserves the shortest remaining distance. At the prior row, alternatives such as WHAM show what the route declined.
Direct-shape gains
4
Sideways steps
2
Temporary shape detours
1
Steps touching a vowel
4
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: 2026-08-22 19:43 UTCPuzzle date: March 7, 2027