Poople #2012026-03-03

Poople #201: PONG to POOP

The shortest 5-step ladder from PONG to POOP, plus the full solution and a replay of puzzle #201.

Play Poople #201

#201 PONG

P
O
N
G
start

Poople #201 answer: PONG to POOP

Hidden

Answer path

pong
bong
bonk
book
boop
poop
5 movesHardFirst hint: change the 1st letter.

Path analysis

This route reaches POOP in 5 moves. Breadth-first search reaches every route with fewer moves first, so POOP cannot be reached in fewer than 5 moves from PONG.

Moves
5
Difficulty
Hard
Shortest paths
3

The dictionary has 3 equally short routes; the route below is one of them.

  1. Move 1: PONG → BONG — change the 1st letter from P to B.
  2. Move 2: BONG → BONK — change the 4th letter from G to K.
  3. Move 3: BONK → BOOK — change the 3rd letter from N to O.
  4. Move 4: BOOK → BOOP — change the 4th letter from K to P.
  5. Move 5: BOOP → POOP — change the 1st letter from B to P.

This Poople puzzle starts from PONG and reaches POOP by changing one letter at a time. The shortest known path takes 5 moves.

Poople #201 Answer for 2026-03-03 — PONG to POOP