Historical route lab

Poople #602 KITE Answer

Poople #602 started at KITE on April 8, 2027. Its flexible opening changes letters in the sequence K>C, I>O, T>M, E>P, M>O, C>P, with 4 par-preserving first moves.

Replay KITE Scores & notes Browse archive

Archive value: this is not a copied daily page. Its tables are calculated for KITE, including 9 legal openings and route signature 1-2-3-4-3-1.

Calculated from the current word graph

KITE route profile

Par6 moves7 words including start and target

Shortest routes7Exact routes in the current accepted graph

Legal first moves94 keep par

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

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 K-I-T-E. 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 6-move answer

KITE -> CITE -> COTE -> COME -> COMP -> COOP -> POOP

Step 0KITEStart

Step 1CITEBridge

Step 2COTEBridge

Step 3COMEBridge

Step 4COMPBridge

Step 5COOPBridge

Step 6POOPTarget

Route anatomy

What changes at every step

Step 1KITE -> CITE

Tile 1 changes K to C; the move is sideways by letter shape. CITE has 10 legal neighbors, 1 shortest continuation, and 5 moves remaining. Other legal exits from KITE include KITS, LITE, BITE, SITE.
Step 2CITE -> COTE

Tile 2 changes I to O; the move is closer by letter shape. COTE has 17 legal neighbors, 2 shortest continuations, and 4 moves remaining. Other legal exits from CITE include CUTE, LITE, BITE, SITE.
Step 3COTE -> COME

Tile 3 changes T to M; the move is sideways by letter shape. COME has 17 legal neighbors, 2 shortest continuations, and 3 moves remaining. Other legal exits from COTE include COTS, CODE, CORE, COLE.
Step 4COME -> COMP

Tile 4 changes E to P; the move is closer by letter shape. COMP has 8 legal neighbors, 2 shortest continuations, and 2 moves remaining. Other legal exits from COME include POME, HOME, SOME, DOME.
Step 5COMP -> COOP

Tile 3 changes M 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 COMP include POMP, COUP, ROMP, CAMP.
Step 6COOP -> 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?

KITE has 9 legal one-letter neighbors. KITS, LITE, CITE, BITE keep the route at 6 moves, while sampled detours begin SITE (+1), RITE (+1), MITE (+1), KINE (+1).

Compare 8 calculated first moves

Move	Changed tile	Total	Verdict	Shortest continuations
KITS	4: E -> S	6	Keeps par	1
LITE	1: K -> L	6	Keeps par	1
CITE	1: K -> C	6	Keeps par	4
BITE	1: K -> B	6	Keeps par	1
SITE	1: K -> S	7	Adds 1 move	10
RITE	1: K -> R	7	Adds 1 move	33
MITE	1: K -> M	7	Adds 1 move	27
KINE	3: T -> N	7	Adds 1 move	10

KITE opening fingerprint

KITE groups its legal first moves as tile 1: LITE, CITE, BITE, SITE, RITE, MITE, VITE; tile 3: KINE; tile 4: KITS. Two moves from the start, 76 off-route words are reachable; the nearest sampled frontier is BITS, LIME, BIDE, BIKE, BILE, BITE, CUTE, DINE, FITS, HITS, KIDS, LICE, LIFE, LIKE, LINE, LIRE, LITE, LIVE, MIKE, MILE, MIME, MIRE, MOTE, NITS.

Your route

Compare a path you played

Your route stays in this browser; it is not submitted.

Graph reading

CITE is the narrowest displayed bridge

After KITE becomes CITE, only 1 move preserves the shortest remaining distance. At the prior row, alternatives such as KITS, LITE, BITE, SITE show what the route declined.

Direct-shape gains: 4
Sideways steps: 2
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: live Graph synced: 2026-08-24 05:29 UTC Puzzle date: April 8, 2027