Poople #576 started at FOLK on March 13, 2027. Its selective opening changes letters in the sequence K>D, L>O, D>L, F>P, L>P, 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 F-O-L-K. Change position 4 and keep positions 1, 2, 3 fixed. Look for a consonant-to-consonant change. 2 different first moves preserve the shortest length.
Reveal the complete 5-move answer
FOLK -> FOLD -> FOOD -> FOOL -> POOL -> POOP
Step 0FOLKStart
Step 1FOLDBridge
Step 2FOODBridge
Step 3FOOLBridge
Step 4POOLBridge
Step 5POOPTarget
Route anatomy
What changes at every step
Step 1FOLK -> FOLD
Tile 4 changes K to D; the move is sideways by letter shape. FOLD has 11 legal neighbors, 3 shortest continuations, and 4 moves remaining. Other legal exits from FOLK include FORK, YOLK.
Step 2FOLD -> FOOD
Tile 3 changes L to O; the move is closer by letter shape. FOOD has 10 legal neighbors, 3 shortest continuations, and 3 moves remaining. Other legal exits from FOLD include GOLD, HOLD, TOLD, SOLD.
Step 3FOOD -> FOOL
Tile 4 changes D to L; the move is sideways by letter shape. FOOL has 10 legal neighbors, 1 shortest continuation, and 2 moves remaining. Other legal exits from FOOD include GOOD, HOOD, WOOD, FOOT.
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, FOOT.
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?
FOLK has 3 legal one-letter neighbors. FOLD, FORK keep the route at 5 moves, while sampled detours begin YOLK (+2).
Compare 3 calculated first moves
Move
Changed tile
Total
Verdict
Shortest continuations
FOLD
4: K -> D
5
Keeps par
5
FORK
3: L -> R
5
Keeps par
1
YOLK
1: F -> Y
7
Adds 2 moves
6
FOLK opening fingerprint
FOLK groups its legal first moves as tile 1: YOLK; tile 3: FORK; tile 4: FOLD. Two moves from the start, 17 off-route words are reachable; the nearest sampled frontier is CORK, GOLD, HOLD, BOLD, COLD, DORK, FOND, FORD, FORE, FORT, MOLD, PORK, SOLD, TOLD, WORK, FORA, FORM.
Your route
Compare a path you played
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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, FOOT 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: liveGraph synced: 2026-08-23 02:08 UTCPuzzle date: March 13, 2027