# \[GAME\]: Challenge: Change "galaxy" to "meteor" with two and no fewer letters changed at each step. **URL:** \ **Category:** The Game Room\ **Created:** [September 18, 2014, 6:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/game-challenge-change-galaxy-to-meteor-with-two-and-no-fewer-letters-changed-at-each-step/698854 "2014-09-18T18:40:35Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Find\_Friends](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/c37758/32.png) [@Find\_Friends](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Find_Friends)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2014, 6:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/game-challenge-change-galaxy-to-meteor-with-two-and-no-fewer-letters-changed-at-each-step/698854/1 "2014-09-18T18:40:35Z")
The thread title pretty much says it all. I’m going to have to assume the possibility of some vagueness here, as I have met it in person. The remaining letters in each step not only remain constant in that step, they also: _ **must remain in their original positions.** _ No transposing allowed! That is, you may not change two letters and then make an anagram. And as long as I’m belaboring it, **YES** , you do have to change 2 letters at each step. Changing only 1 would be a invalid as changing more than 2 per step! So… just how many steps are needed for such very different words? I saw a solution in [_Games_ magazine](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Games_(magazine)) back in the '80’s or '90’s involving about a dozen or more. **BUT** the actual answer is SIX! So make that your goal. Start your engines! (A glance at some of the word games here shows me that they are usually sequential. That is: Let’s establish a process and see where it goes. This challenge is not, and I’m presuming it still fits the forum. If you can show a chain of 6 steps, and are the first, you win. If you can go fewer than 6, I’ll no doubt faint!) ---
**Author:** ![yellowjacketcoder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/4bbf92/32.png) [@yellowjacketcoder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yellowjacketcoder)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2014, 8:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/game-challenge-change-galaxy-to-meteor-with-two-and-no-fewer-letters-changed-at-each-step/698854/2 "2014-09-18T20:22:45Z")
galaxy melaxy metexy meteor There, four steps. (I think you left off the condition that each step has to be an actual word 🙂 Also, I’m a curmudgeon) ---
**Author:** ![wolfman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/a8b319/32.png) [@wolfman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolfman)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2014, 8:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/game-challenge-change-galaxy-to-meteor-with-two-and-no-fewer-letters-changed-at-each-step/698854/3 "2014-09-18T20:50:53Z")
I think I got one in 7(using a marginally English word, but I did find a dictionary that says the one without the extra mark is a word too 🙂 ) 0 galaxy 1 Malady 2 Melody 3 memory 4 memoir 5 member 6 metier 7 Meteor Can’t figure out a way to reduce it to 6. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_other_waldo_pepper/32/12370_2.png) [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Other_Waldo_Pepper)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2014, 12:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/game-challenge-change-galaxy-to-meteor-with-two-and-no-fewer-letters-changed-at-each-step/698854/4 "2014-09-19T00:31:58Z")
How about GALAXY GALLEY MALLET MALTED MELTER METIER METEOR ? ---
**Author:** ![Find\_Friends](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/c37758/32.png) [@Find\_Friends](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Find_Friends)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2014, 1:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/game-challenge-change-galaxy-to-meteor-with-two-and-no-fewer-letters-changed-at-each-step/698854/5 "2014-09-19T01:16:23Z")
> [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](#): > > How about > > GALAXY > GALLEY > MALLET > MALTED > MELTER > METIER > METEOR > > ? Not the one I came up with, but it is a set of 6 changes, with common, uncapitalised English words. I’ll wait a while to reveal mine, and others may come up with their own 6-step sets as “also rans” but in the meantime you are definitely the winner. ---
**Author:** ![Frylock](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/ce7236/32.png) [@Frylock](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frylock)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2014, 1:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/game-challenge-change-galaxy-to-meteor-with-two-and-no-fewer-letters-changed-at-each-step/698854/6 "2014-09-19T01:32:45Z")
I just want to step in here to say how the hell do you people do that? I can’t even think of a single step much less six targeted ones. ---
**Author:** ![wedgehed](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/8edcca/32.png) [@wedgehed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wedgehed)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2014, 2:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/game-challenge-change-galaxy-to-meteor-with-two-and-no-fewer-letters-changed-at-each-step/698854/7 "2014-09-19T02:47:08Z")
I couldn’t do six, but here’s mine. galaxy galley gaitey goiter hotter letter bettor meteor ---
**Author:** ![Jragon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e19b73/32.png) [@Jragon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jragon)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2014, 5:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/game-challenge-change-galaxy-to-meteor-with-two-and-no-fewer-letters-changed-at-each-step/698854/8 "2014-09-19T05:31:10Z")
I cheated and wrote a script that can do this for any two arbitrary words 😛 The shortest is, indeed, 6 going by [the dictionary I used](http://www-01.sil.org/linguistics/wordlists/english/). galaxy galley baller batter bettor meteor ---
**Author:** ![The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_other_waldo_pepper/32/12370_2.png) [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Other_Waldo_Pepper)\ **Post date:** [December 25, 2014, 11:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/game-challenge-change-galaxy-to-meteor-with-two-and-no-fewer-letters-changed-at-each-step/698854/9 "2014-12-25T23:01:23Z")
> [@FUTBOL!](#): > > Not the one I came up with, but it is a set of 6 changes, with common, uncapitalised English words. I’ll wait a while to reveal mine, Reckon you’ve waited a long enough while? ---
**Author:** ![Find\_Friends](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/c37758/32.png) [@Find\_Friends](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Find_Friends)\ **Post date:** [December 26, 2014, 9:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/game-challenge-change-galaxy-to-meteor-with-two-and-no-fewer-letters-changed-at-each-step/698854/10 "2014-12-26T09:41:40Z")
> [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](#): > > Reckon you’ve waited a long enough while? Sure thing! Here’s what I had come up with way back when: 0 galaxy 1 galley 2 caller 3 cancer 4 center 5 mentor 6 meteor I have another idea for a puzzle, and the dictionary Jragon referenced may come in handy. > [@Jragon](#): > > I cheated and wrote a script that can do this for any two arbitrary words 😛 > > The shortest is, indeed, 6 going by [the dictionary I used](http://www-01.sil.org/linguistics/wordlists/english/). > > galaxy > galley > baller > batter > bettor > meteor BTW, Jragon, I had noticed that you made the record here of 5, and just now I noticed that you called it 6. And I never made a “rule” that you could not write a script. Congrats!