Historical route lab

Poople #678 FORM Answer

Poople #678 started at FORM on June 23, 2027. Its flexible opening changes letters in the sequence M>D, R>O, D>L, F>P, L>P, with 6 par-preserving first moves.

Replay FORM Scores & notes Browse archive

Archive value: this is not a copied daily page. Its tables are calculated for FORM, including 11 legal openings and route signature 4-3-4-1-4.

Calculated from the current word graph

FORM route profile

Par5 moves6 words including start and target

Shortest routes15Exact routes in the current accepted graph

Legal first moves116 keep par

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

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 F-O-R-M. Change position 4 and keep positions 1, 2, 3 fixed. Look for a consonant-to-consonant change. 6 different first moves preserve the shortest length.

Reveal the complete 5-move answer

FORM -> FORD -> FOOD -> FOOL -> POOL -> POOP

Step 0FORMStart

Step 1FORDBridge

Step 2FOODBridge

Step 3FOOLBridge

Step 4POOLBridge

Step 5POOPTarget

Route anatomy

What changes at every step

Step 1FORM -> FORD

Tile 4 changes M to D; the move is sideways by letter shape. FORD has 11 legal neighbors, 1 shortest continuation, and 4 moves remaining. Other legal exits from FORM include FORT, FOAM, FORK, FORE.
Step 2FORD -> FOOD

Tile 3 changes R to O; the move is closer by letter shape. FOOD has 10 legal neighbors, 3 shortest continuations, and 3 moves remaining. Other legal exits from FORD include WORD, FORT, CORD, FOLD.
Step 3FOOD -> FOOL

Tile 4 changes D to L; the move is sideways by letter shape. FOOL has 10 legal neighbors, 1 shortest continuation, and 2 moves remaining. Other legal exits from FOOD include GOOD, HOOD, WOOD, FOOT.
Step 4FOOL -> POOL

Tile 1 changes F to P; the move is closer by letter shape. POOL has 8 legal neighbors, 1 shortest continuation, and 1 move remaining. Other legal exits from FOOL include TOOL, COOL, WOOL, FOOT.
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?

FORM has 11 legal one-letter neighbors. FORD, FORT, FOAM, FORK, FORE, DORM keep the route at 5 moves, while sampled detours begin WORM (+1), NORM (+1), FORA (+1), FARM (+2).

Compare 10 calculated first moves

Move	Changed tile	Total	Verdict	Shortest continuations
FORD	4: M -> D	5	Keeps par	3
FORT	4: M -> T	5	Keeps par	5
FOAM	3: R -> A	5	Keeps par	2
FORK	4: M -> K	5	Keeps par	1
FORE	4: M -> E	5	Keeps par	1
DORM	1: F -> D	5	Keeps par	3
WORM	1: F -> W	6	Adds 1 move	10
NORM	1: F -> N	6	Adds 1 move	3
FORA	4: M -> A	6	Adds 1 move	11
FARM	2: O -> A	7	Adds 2 moves	22

FORM opening fingerprint

FORM groups its legal first moves as tile 1: DORM, WORM, NORM; tile 2: FARM, FIRM; tile 3: FOAM; tile 4: FORD, FORT, FORK, FORE, FORA. Two moves from the start, 49 off-route words are reachable; the nearest sampled frontier is CORK, DOOM, FOAL, FOOT, LOAM, PORE, BORA, BORE, CORD, CORE, DORK, DORM, FOLD, FOND, FONT, FORE, FORK, FORT, GORE, LORE, MORE, PORK, PORT, ROAM.

Your route

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Graph reading

POOL is the narrowest displayed bridge

After FOOL becomes POOL, only 1 move preserves the shortest remaining distance. At the prior row, alternatives such as TOOL, COOL, WOOL, FOOT show what the route declined.

Direct-shape gains: 3
Sideways steps: 2
Temporary shape detours: 0
Steps touching a vowel: 1

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: 2026-08-27 11:21 UTC Puzzle date: June 23, 2027