The following was taken from alt.games.lucas-arts.monkey-island, and modified by me to make it a bit easier. If you need more help, /msg me. Beating the game will take hours, but you can't lose, or be killed, like Myst.
2000/12/04

Hey, saves you from having to call a 900 number hint line.

...SPOILER...
Below is the FULL solution to Monkey Island 1.
You don't have to scroll down !!! I'd suggest playing the game until you hit a wall somewhere, then look this up.

Solution to the Secret of Monkey Island

This solution only touch on the essentials in the game. You may want to try out other possibilities not written here.

Part One - The Three Trials

The first part of the story. You must complete three trials in order to prove that you are fit to be a pirate. The three trials are:

Mastering the sword
You will need to get a sword. Find someone to train you. Then challenge the swordmaster.

Mastering the art of thievery
You need to steal the idol of many hands from the governor's mansion.

Treasure hunting
You need to get the map to the treasure and get a shovel. Then go and dig for the treasure.

Walk to the Scumm Bar. Open the door and get inside Talk to the pirates inside to find out about the situation on the island. Talk to the important looking pirates and they will tell you about the three trials. When the cook is serving the pirates. Get inside the kitchen. Get the meat, and the pot. Chase the bird away by stepping on the plank. When it flies away, get the fish.

Now, walk to the cliffside to the outpost. Walk to the path outside the village. You will see map with a figure representing Threepwood. Go to the clearing. You will find a circus there. Go inside and you will find two brothers quarreling. Talk to the Fettucini Brothers. They will ask you to perform a dangerous feat. When ask whether you have brought a helmet, show them the pot you found in the kitchen. Go ahead and do the feat, you will be paid 478 pieces of eight.

Now that you have enough money, go back to the village. Walk along the street until you find a man with a parrot. Buy the map from him. Talk to the three men standing in front of a rat. Take the minute if they pay you 2 pieces of eight.

Walk to the voodoo house. It is in one of the house between the man with the parrot and the three men with a rat. Walk inside and get the rubber chicken with a pulley in the middle. Walk to the right and talk to the voodoo man inside. Ask him about your fortune.

Go to the old man shop. It is the first house you will find after you walk under the archway under the clock. Press the bell if he is not around. Get the sword and shovel. Pay the required amount to the old man before you leave. The shopkeeper only sell certain items when do certain things. So, after some encounter, you might want to return here again.

Go outside the village. Walk to the bridge. Give the fish to the troll so that you may pass. You might want to talk to the troll before you give him the fish.

Go to the house. Open the door and talk to the one eye jack. Pay him the fee required to learn sword fighting. Show him the sword you have bought. After many hours of training, you will learn how to fight.

In this game, sword fighting skill is dependent on how well you can insult your opponent as well as responding correctly to an insult. You will begin with a few insults and responds. As you come across other insults and responds, they will be added to your own list. (See Sword fighting insults). So what you should do now is to fight with all those pirates that are moving around on the map. Just put yourself near the fork and they will automatically look for you. There is no need for you to go after them. Make sure you remember the correct response. If you find a new insult, you should use as soon as possible so that you will know its correct response. The better insults are listed at the top of your list. After you have won enough battles, you can then seek the swordmaster.

Go to the fork. Take the following path to reach the swordmaster.

North. You should see a plant with yellow flowers. Pick up the flowers. North. East. East. West. North. You should see a sign post. Push it to lower the bridge. Cross the bridge and you will find the swordmaster. Once the swordmaster is found, you can go there directly from the map. You will need to respond to her insults correctly for five times before you can defeat her. Choose the correct responds from those you have gathered.Remember, they have to be WITTY. Try until you have defeated her. Once defeated, her will give you something to prove her defeat.

Go back to the village and go to the governor's house. The mansion is guarded by deadly piranha poodles. Use the yellow petal on the meat. The meat will become drugged. Give the meat with condiment to the dogs. After they fall asleep, get inside the mansion. Open the door inside the mansion and you will get into the fight. This sequence is automatic, so sit back and watch the cut screen. Check your inventory after the fight, a few items will be added to it. You will need a file in order to get the idol.

Go to the prison and talk to the prisoner. You will find that he will need some breath mints. Go back to the shopkeeper and this time you can buy the breath mints from him. Get the breath mints and give it to the prisoner. Ask him for the file, he will then ask you for some rat repellent. Give the gopher repellent you found in the mansion to the prisoner and he will give you a carrot cake in return. Use (eat) the cake. There is a file inside.

Now, go back to the mansion to get the idol. Jump into the gaping hole and you will get into another fight. After getting the idol, talk to the sheriff. The governor will appear and chase the sheriff away. Talk to her (if you could). After she leaves, open the door to get outside the mansion. The sheriff will be waiting for you. You will be then be thrown into the sea by the sheriff. Inside the water, get the idol and then walk up. Talk to the governor on the docks.

Go to the Scumm Bar and talk to important pirates. Tell them your progress.

Now go the the fork again. This time you will need to find the lost treasure. Take the following path. North. You should see yellow flowers. West. You will find a campsite here. Take the left th to the north. West. North. West. You should see a skeleton here. North. North. East. West. North. You should find a place full of red flowers. East. You will find an 'X' on the ground. Use the shovel on the 'X' to get the treasure.

Return to the village. You see the ghost ship sailing away. Talk to the cook. He will tell you that the governor was kidnaped by the ghost pirate, LeChuck. Now, you must find a ship and get a crew of three to go after the ghost ship.

Go to the Scumm Bar. Pick up all the five mugs that are on the tables. Go to the kitchen. Use the mug with the barrel which contains grog. The grog inside is very corrosive and thus a mug will not hold the grog for long. When the mug is near dead, use it with another mug. You got no time to loose now, so better hurry up. Find the shortest path to the prison. Change the mugs on the way. When you reach the prison. Use the melting mug on the lock to melt it. Ask the prisoner to join your crew. If the mug is dead before you switch, go back to the bar and try again. Don't worry, you can always get new mugs in the bar.

Go to the swordmaster place. Ask her to join you. She will agree and ask you to meet her at the docks.

Walk outside the village and go to the shore. Use the rubber chicken on the cable to reach the island. The man, Meathook will ask you to take a test. The test is quite simple. Touch the beast and he will join you.

Go to the place where you find lights. You can find Stan's Used Ship Emporium there. Talk to Stan. Make sure you mention about buying the ships on credit. Well, you might want to look through all the ships but you will not be able to buy any single one of them. Before you leave, he will give you a business card.

Now go the the shopkeeper house. You might want to save the game at this moment. Ask him to get a note of credit for you. He will open the safe and get the note. Watch how he opens the safe. When you are sure of the correct combination (Note that the combination is different when you start another game. So, it is not possible to write it down in this solution) If you miss the combination, go outside and come back again. The shopkeeper will repeat the sequence again. When you are sure of the combination, ask him to look for the swordmaster. Open the safe while he is away. Get the note of credit from the safe.

Walk outside the village. Go the the Used Ship Emporium. Talk to the man. Buy the Sea Monkey from him with the note of credit. Make sure you do your bargaining with him. You can do away with all the extra in order to cut price. Start your offer with the minimum amount and gradually increase. When you bought the ship, he will give you a magnetic compass.

Go back to the village. Your crews and ship will be waiting for you to set sail.

Part Two - The Journey

After your conversation with the crew. You will find yourself in the captain's room. Get feather pen, ink. Open drawer and get the dusty book. Read the book carefully, it gives hints as to how to reach the Monkey Island.

Walk to deck. Talk to crew. Walk to rope ladder. Get the Jolly Roger (pirate flag) on top.

Go down to the deck. Walk to the hatch behind the crew. You will find another hatch that leads to the store and a door that leads to the kitchen. Walk to kitchen. Get pot. Open cupboard, get cereal. Open cereal to get the prize. Look at the prize, it's a small key! Go down the second hatch to the store room. Open the chest to get the fine wine. Get the giant coil of rope. Open the kegs to get gunpowder.

Go the captain's room. Open the cabinet with the small key. Open the chest inside the cabinet to get a recipe and some cinnamon sticks. Read the recipe.

Go to the kitchen. It's time to get rid of all the redundant stuff in your inventory. Use the pot with the followings:

minutes
note
business card
feather pen
cereal
piece of paper
Jolly Roger
ink
breath mints
fine wine
100% cotton T-shirt
T-shirt
rubber chicken
staple remover
small key
dusty book
cinnamon sticks
gunpowder
The pot will explode and release a voodoo spell that will bring the ship to the Monkey Island. Note that not all items are necessary to be thrown into the pot. You do it just to reduce your inventory list. So throw in the gunpowder only when you have got rid of all the redundant items. Don't worry, any items that could be thrown into the pot is not important.

Use the map on the red hot fire to get a flaming mass. Go to the storeroom to get more gunpowder. Go to the deck. Use the gunpowder in the cannon nozzle. Use the rope on the cannon to serve as a fuse. Now, use the pot as a helmet. Light the cannon and sent yourself to Monkey Island.

Part Three - Under Monkey Island

Some explanations

The island can be accessed by clicking at the crosshair to move your character. When move to a place of interest, its name will be shown. The names of location used here are exactly those used in the game. When in doubt, move around until the appropriate place is found.

The cannon will sent you to the beach. Pick up the banana.

Go to the fort to the western side of the island. Push cannon. Get cannonball. Get gunpowder. Get rope. Get spyglass. Talk to Herman Toothrot.

Go to river fork. Pick up stone under note. Look at the stone, it's a piece of flint. Climb up the hill with the footholds. At the middle of the hill, you will find a catapult. You can push/pull it to adjust its aim. Go to the hill top. Use the spyglass. If you don't see the banana tree, go down and adjust the catapult again. Do it until you have the banana tree on target. Push the rock to activate the catapult. A message will be shown if you hit the banana tree. If your hit is not successful, pick up another rock from the heap of rock and try again. Hitting the tree will cause the bananas to drop. You can collect it later on when you go to the beach. Go down the hill.

Go to the pond at the end of the dry riverbed. You will find a man hanging on the tree. There is a coil of rope on his hand. So, in order to get the rope. Go back to the river fork. Walk to dam. Use gunpowder on dam. Use the flint on the cannon ball to produce a rk. This will blow up the dam and release the water. Go back to the pond, the log will be floating and the dead body is on the ground. Get the rope from the dead body.

Go to the crack. There is air of oars at the bottom. Tie the rope on the strong branch. Go down the rope. Tie the other rope on the sturdy stump. Climb down to get the oars.

Go the beach with the banana tree. Pick up the bananas. Use the oars on the boat. Now, you can travel by sea to the northernrt of the island. Note that you must land your boat on a beach before you can travel on foot.

Go to the village to the north. Walk to the giant head to the left. Pick up the bananas on the fruit bowl. Walk out of the village. You will be stopped by three cannibals. Talk to them. They will then lock you inside their guest room. Inside hut, get skull. Open the loose board underneath the skull. The hole will let you get out of the village.

Go to the forest north of the beach with the banana tree to find the monkey. Look at the monkey. Give all the five bananas to the monkey. This will make him happy and follows you. When successful you will find a gray dot following you wherever you go. If you happen to lose sight of him, go back to look for him. (This only happens when you travel by boat)

Go to the clearing at the eastern end of the island. Make sure the monkey is following you. Walk to totem pole. Move the cursor around until you find the nose on the totem pole. Pull the nose to open the gate. The monkey will then pull the nose for you so that you can go near the Gigantic Monkey's Head. Pick up the wimpy little idol. Look at idol.

Go back to the village. Give the idol to the cannibals. They will then be friendly to you. Walk to the hut where you were taken to the other time. This time the door is opened. Get the banana picker. Walk to the right. Herman Toothrot will be waiting for you. Give him the banana picker and he will give you the monkey head key. Exit the village and come back again. The cannibals will talk to you. Give them the leaflet. They will give you the navigator's head and necklace.

Go to the Gigantic Monkey Head. Use the key the dig the Gigantic Monkey Ear to open the Monkey Head. This will open the Gigantic Monkey Head. Walk inside the Monkey Head. Use the navigator's head. It's nose will be pointing to the correct direction. Follow it until you have found the ghost ship.

Don't go inside the ship yet. Talk to the navigator's head. Ask him until he agrees to give you the necklace. Wear the necklace before you enter the ghost ship. It will make you invisible to the ghosts.

Go to the captain's room. Use the magnetic compass on the key. Walk to the deck. Climb down the hatch. You will be in the bedroom. Walk to the passage to the right. You will find some ghost chickens there. Get the ghost feather. Unlock the hatch with the key. Go down and you will find yourself surrounded by rats. You will need to get something in order to get past the rats. Go back to the bedroom. Use the ghost feather on the sleeping ghost. When tickled, he will drop the wine bottle. Get the jug o'grog and go back to the rats room. Pour the jug o'grog on the dish. The rats will get drunk after drinking it. Get the glob of grease.

Go back to the deck. Use the glob of grease on the squeaky door. Open the door. Get the ghost tools beside the ghost guard. Go back to the ghost chickens. Use the ghost tools on the glowing crate to open it. Get the voodoo root. Go back to the cave.

Cut screen : You will travel back to the village and give the root to the cannibals. They will then prepare the root for you. Then you will travel all the way back to the ghost ship. You will find that the ship is gone. The ghost pirate, LeChuck, is going to marry the governor. So, you will need to go back to Melee Island to stop the wedding. Talk to funny ghost. Don't kill him. When your crew is back, listen to their conversation.

Last Part - GuyBrush Kicks Butt

After another journey, you will be at the docks in the village. Use the potion on any ghost you encounter.

Find you way to the church. Talk to LeChuck. Your potion will becomes jammed and you will be whack by the ghost pirate continually. You will be flying all over the place.

When you find yourself in the emporium. Try to get the root beer before the ghost hit you. After you get the root beer, try to use it on the ghost. If you did it successfully, you will destroy the ghost. Talk to governor and watch the fireworks.

Slán,
Niall O'Keeffe.
http://niall.okeeffe.com