Poople answer archive

Poople #359 answer: LAVA to POOP in 6 guesses (August 9, 2026)

The Poople puzzle for August 9, 2026 starts from LAVA. The shortest ladder to POOP takes 6 guesses, and there are 8 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 #359 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 LAVA

8 different ladders reach POOP in 6 guesses from LAVA. Here they all are, the first using the most common words:

1. LAVA → LAMA → LIMA → LIMP → PIMP → POMP → POOP
2. LAVA → LAMA → LUMA → PUMA → PUMP → POMP → POOP
3. LAVA → LAMA → LUMA → LUMP → PUMP → POMP → POOP
4. LAVA → LAMA → LAMP → CAMP → COMP → POMP → POOP
5. LAVA → LAMA → LAMP → CAMP → COMP → COOP → POOP
6. LAVA → LAMA → LAMP → RAMP → ROMP → POMP → POOP
7. LAVA → LAMA → LAMP → LIMP → PIMP → POMP → POOP
8. LAVA → LAMA → LAMP → LUMP → PUMP → POMP → POOP

First moves: which keep par and which don't

LAVA has 6 legal neighbours in the original word list (change one letter, still a word). Only one first move keeps you on par: LAMA. Every other legal move costs at least a guess. Moves that cost exactly one extra guess: LAVE. Moves that cost two or more: FAVA, JAVA, KAVA, LEVA.

How #359 compares

Par 6 puts #359 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 #359 yourself

Same starting word, same word list as the original, with undo and hints. Replays don't touch your streak. Play #359

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.