Historical route lab

Poople #616 MINI Answer

Poople #616 started at MINI on April 22, 2027. Its narrow opening changes letters in the sequence I>K, I>O, N>O, M>L, K>P, L>P, with 1 par-preserving first moves.

Replay MINI Scores & notes Browse archive

Archive value: this is not a copied daily page. Its tables are calculated for MINI, including 6 legal openings and route signature 4-2-3-1-4-1.

Calculated from the current word graph

MINI route profile

Par6 moves7 words including start and target

Shortest routes8Exact routes in the current accepted graph

Legal first moves61 keep par

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

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 M-I-N-I. 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.

Reveal the complete 6-move answer

MINI -> MINK -> MONK -> MOOK -> LOOK -> LOOP -> POOP

Step 0MINIStart

Step 1MINKBridge

Step 2MONKBridge

Step 3MOOKBridge

Step 4LOOKBridge

Step 5LOOPBridge

Step 6POOPTarget

Route anatomy

What changes at every step

Step 1MINI -> MINK

Tile 4 changes I to K; the move is sideways by letter shape. MINK has 17 legal neighbors, 1 shortest continuation, and 5 moves remaining. Other legal exits from MINI include MIND, MINE, MINT, MINX.
Step 2MINK -> MONK

Tile 2 changes I to O; the move is closer by letter shape. MONK has 10 legal neighbors, 4 shortest continuations, and 4 moves remaining. Other legal exits from MINK include LINK, MILK, TINK, MIND.
Step 3MONK -> MOOK

Tile 3 changes N to O; the move is closer by letter shape. MOOK has 15 legal neighbors, 5 shortest continuations, and 3 moves remaining. Other legal exits from MONK include HONK, BONK, CONK, MOCK.
Step 4MOOK -> LOOK

Tile 1 changes M to L; the move is sideways by letter shape. LOOK has 13 legal neighbors, 1 shortest continuation, and 2 moves remaining. Other legal exits from MOOK include BOOK, COOK, HOOK, MOOR.
Step 5LOOK -> LOOP

Tile 4 changes K to P; the move is closer by letter shape. LOOP has 9 legal neighbors, 1 shortest continuation, and 1 move remaining. Other legal exits from LOOK include BOOK, COOK, HOOK, LOOM.
Step 6LOOP -> POOP

Tile 1 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 LOOP include COOP, HOOP, BOOP, GOOP.

Opening decision

Which first moves preserve par?

MINI has 6 legal one-letter neighbors, but only MINK keeps the route at 6 moves. Nearby detours begin MIND (+1), MINE (+1), MINT (+1), MINX (+1).

Compare 6 calculated first moves

Move	Changed tile	Total	Verdict	Shortest continuations
MINK	4: I -> K	6	Keeps par	8
MIND	4: I -> D	7	Adds 1 move	19
MINE	4: I -> E	7	Adds 1 move	29
MINT	4: I -> T	7	Adds 1 move	20
MINX	4: I -> X	7	Adds 1 move	8
MIDI	3: N -> D	8	Adds 2 moves	8

MINI opening fingerprint

MINI groups its legal first moves as tile 3: MIDI; tile 4: MINK, MIND, MINE, MINT, MINX. Two moves from the start, 48 off-route words are reachable; the nearest sampled frontier is BIND, DINE, FIND, HINT, LINE, LINK, LINT, MIKE, MILD, MILE, MILK, MIME, MIRE, MIST, PINE, TINE, TINK, DINK, DINT, FINE, FINK, KIND, KINE, KINK.

Your route

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Graph reading

LOOP is the narrowest displayed bridge

After LOOK becomes LOOP, only 1 move preserves the shortest remaining distance. At the prior row, alternatives such as BOOK, COOK, HOOK, LOOM 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 20:25 UTC Puzzle date: April 22, 2027