Historical route lab

Poople #663 RATE Answer

Poople #663 started at RATE on June 8, 2027. Its flexible opening changes letters in the sequence A>O, T>L, E>L, R>P, L>O, L>P, with 7 par-preserving first moves.

Replay RATE Scores & notes Browse archive

Archive value: this is not a copied daily page. Its tables are calculated for RATE, including 18 legal openings and route signature 2-3-4-1-3-4.

Calculated from the current word graph

RATE route profile

Par6 moves7 words including start and target

Shortest routes28Exact routes in the current accepted graph

Legal first moves187 keep par

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

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 R-A-T-E. Change position 2 and keep positions 1, 3, 4 fixed. Look for a vowel-to-vowel change. 7 different first moves preserve the shortest length.

Reveal the complete 6-move answer

RATE -> ROTE -> ROLE -> ROLL -> POLL -> POOL -> POOP

Step 0RATEStart

Step 1ROTEBridge

Step 2ROLEBridge

Step 3ROLLBridge

Step 4POLLBridge

Step 5POOLBridge

Step 6POOPTarget

Route anatomy

What changes at every step

Step 1RATE -> ROTE

Tile 2 changes A to O; the move is closer by letter shape. ROTE has 15 legal neighbors, 7 shortest continuations, and 5 moves remaining. Other legal exits from RATE include DATE, RARE, RATS, PATE.
Step 2ROTE -> ROLE

Tile 3 changes T to L; the move is sideways by letter shape. ROLE has 17 legal neighbors, 2 shortest continuations, and 4 moves remaining. Other legal exits from ROTE include ROSE, ROPE, COTE, TOTE.
Step 3ROLE -> ROLL

Tile 4 changes E to L; the move is sideways by letter shape. ROLL has 8 legal neighbors, 1 shortest continuation, and 3 moves remaining. Other legal exits from ROLE include POLE, ROSE, HOLE, SOLE.
Step 4ROLL -> POLL

Tile 1 changes R 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 ROLL include TOLL, DOLL, BOLL, LOLL.
Step 5POLL -> 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 TOLL, PULL, PILL, DOLL.
Step 6POOL -> 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?

RATE has 18 legal one-letter neighbors. DATE, RARE, RATS, PATE, ROTE, SATE, RASE keep the route at 6 moves, while sampled detours begin LATE (+1), RACE (+1), HATE (+1), GATE (+1).

Compare 11 calculated first moves

Move	Changed tile	Total	Verdict	Shortest continuations
DATE	1: R -> D	6	Keeps par	2
RARE	3: T -> R	6	Keeps par	1
RATS	4: E -> S	6	Keeps par	5
PATE	1: R -> P	6	Keeps par	4
ROTE	2: A -> O	6	Keeps par	13
SATE	1: R -> S	6	Keeps par	1
RASE	3: T -> S	6	Keeps par	2
LATE	1: R -> L	7	Adds 1 move	27
RACE	3: T -> C	7	Adds 1 move	20
HATE	1: R -> H	7	Adds 1 move	22
GATE	1: R -> G	7	Adds 1 move	19

RATE opening fingerprint

RATE groups its legal first moves as tile 1: DATE, PATE, SATE, LATE, HATE, GATE, MATE, FATE; tile 2: ROTE, RITE; tile 3: RARE, RASE, RACE, RAGE, RAVE, RAKE, RAZE; tile 4: RATS. Two moves from the start, 141 off-route words are reachable; the nearest sampled frontier is BATS, CATS, COTE, DAME, DOTE, PALE, PARE, RAMS, RASP, ROPE, ROSE, ROTS, SAME, TOTE, BARE, BASE, BITE, CAGE, CAKE, CARE, CASE, CAVE, CITE, DALE.

Your route

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Graph reading

ROLL is the narrowest displayed bridge

After ROLE becomes ROLL, only 1 move preserves the shortest remaining distance. At the prior row, alternatives such as POLE, ROSE, HOLE, SOLE 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: 2026-08-26 20:22 UTC Puzzle date: June 8, 2027