Poople #428 Answer: DOJO to POOP in 7 Moves

Poople #428 at a glance

What makes this puzzle distinctive

DOJO has just two accepted one-letter neighbours here: DODO and MOJO. Only MOJO reduces the remaining distance from seven to six, so every shortest solution starts DOJO → MOJO.

The selected route continues MOJO → MONO → MONK → MOOK before reaching LOOK → LOOP → POOP. The 12 shortest routes share the opening through MONO, then take different branches later; the displayed path is one checked seven-move option.

Step-by-step shortest route

Shortest routes

All 12 shortest routes are shown below.

1. DOJO → MOJO → MONO → MONK → BONK → BOOK → BOOP → POOP
2. DOJO → MOJO → MONO → MONK → CONK → COOK → COOP → POOP
3. DOJO → MOJO → MONO → MONK → HONK → HOOK → HOOP → POOP
4. DOJO → MOJO → MONO → MONK → MOOK → BOOK → BOOP → POOP
5. DOJO → MOJO → MONO → MONK → MOOK → COOK → COOP → POOP
6. DOJO → MOJO → MONO → MONK → MOOK → HOOK → HOOP → POOP
7. DOJO → MOJO → MONO → MONK → MOOK → LOOK → LOOP → POOP Selected reference route
8. DOJO → MOJO → MONO → MONK → MOOK → MOOR → POOR → POOP
9. DOJO → MOJO → MONO → MONS → CONS → COOS → COOP → POOP
10. DOJO → MOJO → MONO → MONS → MOOS → BOOS → BOOP → POOP
11. DOJO → MOJO → MONO → MONS → MOOS → COOS → COOP → POOP
12. DOJO → MOJO → MONO → MONS → MOOS → MOOR → POOR → POOP

First-move choices

One-letter neighbours of DOJO in this checked list: DODO (adds at least one move) · MOJO (keeps par).

A first move keeps the 7-move minimum only when its remaining distance is 6.

Choices along the selected route

Each listed next word keeps a shortest finish from that point. These are the branch points encountered on the selected reference route.

How this answer was checked

This route was saved during its daily verification run. The 2398-word list was checked on October 16, 2026. We verified every displayed transition, the shortest length and the route count against that list.