Historical route lab

Poople #638 DEAL Answer

Poople #638 started at DEAL on May 14, 2027. Its narrow opening changes letters in the sequence A>L, E>O, D>P, L>O, L>P, with 1 par-preserving first moves.

Replay DEAL Scores & notes Browse archive

Archive value: this is not a copied daily page. Its tables are calculated for DEAL, including 16 legal openings and route signature 3-2-1-3-4.

Calculated from the current word graph

DEAL route profile

Par5 moves6 words including start and target

Shortest routes1Exact routes in the current accepted graph

Legal first moves161 keep par

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

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 D-E-A-L. Change position 3 and keep positions 1, 2, 4 fixed. Look for a vowel-to-consonant change. Only one first move preserves the shortest length.

Reveal the complete 5-move answer

DEAL -> DELL -> DOLL -> POLL -> POOL -> POOP

Step 0DEALStart

Step 1DELLBridge

Step 2DOLLBridge

Step 3POLLBridge

Step 4POOLBridge

Step 5POOPTarget

Route anatomy

What changes at every step

Step 1DEAL -> DELL

Tile 3 changes A to L; the move is sideways by letter shape. DELL has 14 legal neighbors, 1 shortest continuation, and 4 moves remaining. Other legal exits from DEAL include DUAL, DEAN, DEAR, DIAL.
Step 2DELL -> DOLL

Tile 2 changes E to O; the move is closer by letter shape. DOLL has 10 legal neighbors, 1 shortest continuation, and 3 moves remaining. Other legal exits from DELL include TELL, BELL, DULL, DILL.
Step 3DOLL -> POLL

Tile 1 changes D to P; the move is closer by letter shape. POLL has 12 legal neighbors, 1 shortest continuation, and 2 moves remaining. Other legal exits from DOLL include ROLL, TOLL, BOLL, LOLL.
Step 4POLL -> POOL

Tile 3 changes L to O; the move is closer by letter shape. POOL has 8 legal neighbors, 1 shortest continuation, and 1 move remaining. Other legal exits from POLL include ROLL, TOLL, PULL, PILL.
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?

DEAL has 16 legal one-letter neighbors, but only DELL keeps the route at 5 moves. Nearby detours begin DUAL (+1), DEAN (+1), DEAR (+1), DIAL (+1).

Compare 8 calculated first moves

Move	Changed tile	Total	Verdict	Shortest continuations
DELL	3: A -> L	5	Keeps par	1
DUAL	2: E -> U	6	Adds 1 move	2
DEAN	4: L -> N	6	Adds 1 move	1
DEAR	4: L -> R	6	Adds 1 move	3
DIAL	2: E -> I	6	Adds 1 move	2
TEAL	1: D -> T	6	Adds 1 move	2
PEAL	1: D -> P	6	Adds 1 move	3
REAL	1: D -> R	7	Adds 2 moves	22

DEAL opening fingerprint

DEAL groups its legal first moves as tile 1: TEAL, PEAL, REAL, SEAL, MEAL, HEAL, ZEAL, VEAL, WEAL; tile 2: DUAL, DIAL; tile 3: DELL; tile 4: DEAN, DEAR, DEAD, DEAF. Two moves from the start, 75 off-route words are reachable; the nearest sampled frontier is BEAR, BELL, DEER, DILL, DULL, LEAN, PEAT, PEEL, TELL, BEAD, BEAN, CELL, DEAN, DEAR, DEED, DELI, DELT, DIAL, DUAL, DUEL, FEAR, FELL, GEAR, HEAD.

Your route

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Graph reading

POOL is the narrowest displayed bridge

After POLL becomes POOL, only 1 move preserves the shortest remaining distance. At the prior row, alternatives such as ROLL, TOLL, PULL, PILL show what the route declined.

Direct-shape gains: 4
Sideways steps: 1
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: 2026-08-25 19:30 UTC Puzzle date: May 14, 2027