Poople statistics: 416 puzzles, solved
We solved every Poople puzzle from #1 (August 15, 2025) to #416 (October 4, 2026) with the game's own word list. The average shortest path from the daily start word to POOP is 5.66 steps. This page is rebuilt every day with the newest puzzle.
- Most puzzles are short: 55% need only 5 steps and only 52 of 416 need 7 or more.
- Starting words that begin with a vowel average 7.27 steps against 5.47 for consonants.
- Among starting letters with at least 8 puzzles, A (7.25 steps) and O (7.10) are hardest; C (5.13) and G (5.14) are easiest.
- The last word before POOP is usually COOP (18%), POMP (17%) or BOOP (14%).
- Difficulty has not drifted: monthly averages stay between 5.45 (March 2026) and 6.04 (February 2026).
How many steps does a Poople puzzle take?
The shortest paths cluster tightly: the median is 5 steps and the average is pulled up only by a tail of 52 puzzles that need 7 steps or more.
The hardest starting words
These ten puzzles needed the most steps. Ties are listed oldest first.
| Puzzle | Date | Start | Steps | Shortest path |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| #388 | September 6, 2026 | ITCH | 10 | ITCH → ETCH → EACH → MACH → MUCH → MUCK → LUCK → LOCK → LOOK → LOOP → POOP |
| #31 | September 14, 2025 | ARCH | 9 | ARCH → ARCS → ARMS → AIMS → AIDS → BIDS → BODS → BOOS → BOOP → POOP |
| #177 | February 7, 2026 | ETCH | 9 | ETCH → EACH → MACH → MUCH → MUCK → LUCK → LOCK → LOOK → LOOP → POOP |
| #181 | February 11, 2026 | QUAY | 9 | QUAY → QUAD → QUID → QUIT → SUIT → SLIT → SLOT → PLOT → PLOP → POOP |
| #197 | February 27, 2026 | OWNS | 9 | OWNS → OWLS → OILS → OILY → WILY → WILL → PILL → POLL → POOL → POOP |
| #351 | July 31, 2026 | BUZZ | 9 | BUZZ → FUZZ → FUZE → FUSE → RUSE → ROSE → POSE → POME → POMP → POOP |
| #17 | August 31, 2025 | THUG | 8 | THUG → THUS → THIS → THIN → CHIN → CHIP → CHOP → COOP → POOP |
| #35 | September 18, 2025 | ACES | 8 | ACES → APES → APED → SPED → SLED → PLED → PLOD → PLOP → POOP |
| #48 | October 1, 2025 | ARCS | 8 | ARCS → ARMS → AIMS → AIDS → BIDS → BODS → BOOS → BOOP → POOP |
| #57 | October 10, 2025 | AREA | 8 | AREA → ARIA → ARID → GRID → GRIP → DRIP → DROP → PROP → POOP |
The longest ladder: ITCH (#388)
The words you pass through most often
These are the most frequent stepping stones across all 416 solved paths, not counting the start word or POOP. Where a puzzle has several shortest paths we publish the one made of the most common words, so this list leans toward everyday words.
The word just before POOP is a smaller set: COOP (73), POMP (70), BOOP (57), LOOP (51), PLOP (44). If you can reach one of these, the last step is free.
Which starting letter is hardest?
Only letters that start at least 8 puzzles are shown.
| Start letter | Puzzles | Average steps |
|---|---|---|
| A | 24 | 7.25 |
| O | 10 | 7.10 |
| J | 11 | 5.73 |
| N | 17 | 5.65 |
| M | 17 | 5.65 |
| T | 26 | 5.62 |
| R | 33 | 5.61 |
| W | 41 | 5.59 |
| B | 16 | 5.56 |
| L | 22 | 5.55 |
| H | 25 | 5.40 |
| F | 17 | 5.35 |
| D | 19 | 5.32 |
| P | 31 | 5.26 |
| S | 41 | 5.24 |
| G | 21 | 5.14 |
| C | 16 | 5.13 |
Does Poople get harder over time?
| Month | Puzzles | Average steps |
|---|---|---|
| August 2025 | 17 | 5.76 |
| September 2025 | 30 | 5.73 |
| October 2025 | 31 | 5.71 |
| November 2025 | 30 | 5.47 |
| December 2025 | 31 | 5.65 |
| January 2026 | 31 | 5.68 |
| February 2026 | 28 | 6.04 |
| March 2026 | 31 | 5.45 |
| April 2026 | 30 | 5.63 |
| May 2026 | 31 | 5.68 |
| June 2026 | 30 | 5.70 |
| July 2026 | 31 | 5.68 |
| August 2026 | 31 | 5.55 |
| September 2026 | 30 | 5.57 |
| October 2026 | 4 | 6.00 |
No. Months with a full set of puzzles stay close to the overall average. Months with fewer than 20 puzzles (the first and the current one) move around more.
Which letter changes most?
| Letter position | Times changed |
|---|---|
| 1st (first letter) | 677 |
| 2nd | 501 |
| 3rd | 602 |
| 4th (last letter) | 575 |
Across every step of every path, position 1 changes most often (677 times). A first-letter swap is usually the cheapest way to move to a new family of words.
How we computed this
Poople ships its word list and the order of daily start words inside its own game. We run a breadth-first search from POOP over that word list, so every path here is a true shortest path through the game's dictionary. When several shortest paths exist we publish the one made of the most common words.
Poople shows the shortest path for the previous day. We compare our result with it automatically: 2 puzzles are marked as verified so far, meaning our path matched the published one. Puzzles before the check started are computed but not individually verified.
Use the data
The full table is free to download: poople-shortest-paths.csv (416 rows: puzzle, date, start word, steps, path, whether the path is unique and whether it was verified). If you use it, please link back to this page: https://dlehints.com/poople/stats/