Poople #591 started at MEGA on March 28, 2027. Its selective opening changes letters in the sequence G>S, A>S, E>O, S>O, S>R, M>P, R>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 M-E-G-A. Change position 3 and keep positions 1, 2, 4 fixed. Look for a consonant-to-consonant change. 2 different first moves preserve the shortest length.
Tile 3 changes G to S; the move is sideways by letter shape. MESA has 4 legal neighbors, 1 shortest continuation, and 6 moves remaining. Other legal exits from MEGA include META, VEGA.
Step 2MESA -> MESS
Tile 4 changes A to S; the move is sideways by letter shape. MESS has 11 legal neighbors, 1 shortest continuation, and 5 moves remaining. Other legal exits from MESA include MESH, META.
Step 3MESS -> MOSS
Tile 2 changes E to O; the move is closer by letter shape. MOSS has 19 legal neighbors, 2 shortest continuations, and 4 moves remaining. Other legal exits from MESS include LESS, MASS, MISS, MEDS.
Step 4MOSS -> MOOS
Tile 3 changes S to O; the move is closer by letter shape. MOOS has 16 legal neighbors, 3 shortest continuations, and 3 moves remaining. Other legal exits from MOSS include BOSS, MOST, LOSS, MOMS.
Step 5MOOS -> MOOR
Tile 4 changes S to R; the move is sideways by letter shape. MOOR has 8 legal neighbors, 1 shortest continuation, and 2 moves remaining. Other legal exits from MOOS include COOS, BOOS, MOON, MOOD.
Step 6MOOR -> POOR
Tile 1 changes M to P; the move is closer by letter shape. POOR has 7 legal neighbors, 1 shortest continuation, and 1 move remaining. Other legal exits from MOOR include DOOR, BOOR, MOON, MOOD.
Step 7POOR -> POOP
Tile 4 changes R to P; the move is closer by letter shape. POOP has 11 legal neighbors, target reached, and 0 moves remaining. Other legal exits from POOR include POOL, POOF, DOOR, POUR.
Opening decision
Which first moves preserve par?
MEGA has 3 legal one-letter neighbors. META, MESA keep the route at 7 moves, while sampled detours begin VEGA (+2).
Compare 3 calculated first moves
Move
Changed tile
Total
Verdict
Shortest continuations
META
3: G -> T
7
Keeps par
1
MESA
3: G -> S
7
Keeps par
4
VEGA
1: M -> V
9
Adds 2 moves
16
MEGA opening fingerprint
MEGA groups its legal first moves as tile 1: VEGA; tile 3: META, MESA. Two moves from the start, 8 off-route words are reachable; the nearest sampled frontier is BETA, FETA, MESH, META, METE, METH, ZETA, VERA.
Your route
Compare a path you played
Your route stays in this browser; it is not submitted.
Graph reading
MESA is the narrowest displayed bridge
After MEGA becomes MESA, only 1 move preserves the shortest remaining distance. At the prior row, alternatives such as META, VEGA show what the route declined.
Direct-shape gains
4
Sideways steps
3
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: 2026-08-23 17:36 UTCPuzzle date: March 28, 2027