Poople answer archive

Poople #408 answer: YARD to POOP in 6 guesses (September 27, 2026)

The Poople puzzle for September 27, 2026 starts from YARD. The shortest ladder to POOP takes 6 guesses, and there are 9 different shortest routes. Here is one of them, using the most common words:

Puzzle numbers follow the original game, which switches to a new word at 08:00 UTC.

Want to play instead of peeking?

Replay Poople #408 yourself in the archive: same starting word, same word list, with undo and hints. Or play today's Poople and the unlimited mode. Curious about a ladder of your own? The Poople solver finds the shortest path between any two four-letter words.

Every shortest ladder from YARD

9 different ladders reach POOP in 6 guesses from YARD. Here are 8 of them, the first using the most common words:

1. YARD → BARD → BARN → BORN → BOON → BOOP → POOP
2. YARD → CARD → CORD → CORK → COOK → COOP → POOP
3. YARD → CARD → CARP → CAMP → COMP → POMP → POOP
4. YARD → CARD → CARP → CAMP → COMP → COOP → POOP
5. YARD → WARD → WORD → WOOD → GOOD → GOOP → POOP
6. YARD → WARD → WORD → WOOD → HOOD → HOOP → POOP
7. YARD → WARD → WORD → WOOD → WOOF → POOF → POOP
8. YARD → WARD → WORD → WOOD → WOOL → POOL → POOP

1 more shortest ladder exist beyond these 8; the solver below can list routes from any word.

First moves: which keep par and which don't

YARD has 6 legal neighbours in the original word list (change one letter, still a word). 4 of the 6 legal first moves keep you on par: BARD, CARD, WARD, YARN. Moves that cost exactly one extra guess: HARD, LARD.

How #408 compares

Par 6 puts #408 among the longer puzzles: only 13% of all Pooples so far have needed more guesses. The fastest ladders go through an -OO- word one step from POOP (LOOP, HOOP, COOP, POOL, POOR, POOF); the shortest route above reaches one in 5 guesses.

Replay Poople #408 yourself

Same starting word, same word list as the original, with undo and hints. Replays don't touch your streak. Play #408

How the shortest path is found

Every four-letter word in the game's word list is a node; two words are linked when they differ by one letter. A breadth-first search from POOP gives the minimum number of steps for every word. When several shortest ladders exist, the one shown prefers common words, so it reads naturally — the same idea the original game uses for its "yesterday" solution.