Walkthrough

Maniac Mansion is not linear at all. Most puzzles do not have to be solved in a specific order, the house's inhabitants come and go, and the game is sometimes interrupted by events triggered by an arbitrary timer. This means that, even though this is a complete walkthrough, you should still keep in mind that:
- it is possible to win by doing things in a completely different order than the one I give
- timed events will sometimes interrupt the flow of what I'm describing

If you are new to the game, by all means, play it on your own first. This walkthrough is meant to help players who either are irremediably stuck, or have already beaten the game in one way and want to find out about the other ways to beat it.

PREREQUISITES

Choosing your team

You will play with three kids. There are seven different kids with different abilities, and therefore different ways to beat the game depending on the team you chose. Dave is mandatory, but you can choose the two others. Dave and Jeff are the only kids who do not have a way to get past Purple Tentacle, which is mandatory to beat the game. But since you will have a team of three kids, even if you pick Jeff, you will have at least one kid who will be able to make you win.

There is a unique way to win with Michael, a unique way to win with Wendy, a unique way to win with Bernard, and a unique way to win with Razor or Syd (who are effectively the same character, with the same abilities). If you enjoy Maniac Mansion, you should definitely attempt to beat it with all characters.

When part of the walkthrough only applies to certain characters, I will write the character's name in bold before the corresponding paragraph. If you didn't pick that character, or if you don't want to win using him, simply skip that paragraph. So, pick your team, and let's begin.

Before we get into the walkthrough proper, there are two things I need to cover in advance.

Escaping the dungeon

If you get caught by Dr.Fred's family inside the house, they will usually send you to the dungeon. Don't fret though, because you can escape. The old rusty key opens the dungeon's door, so once you find it, you can go in and out as you please. But even before you find it, you can still escape as long as you have at least two characters in the dungeon. Position one of the characters below the left window and use "What Is" to locate a loose brick.

When you push the loose brick, the dungeon's door (on the right) opens for a few seconds, then closes again. It happens too fast for a single kid to push the brick and reach the door before it closes. But if you have a second kid inside, position him right in front of the door, switch to the first kid and make him push the brick, then quickly switch back to the second kid and make him escape while the door is open.

If you are following my walkthrough and get inadventently locked into the dungeon, it's not a problem, use this trick to escape and go back to where you were previously.

Ed's package

At some arbitrary point during the game, someone will deliver a package for Ed next to the mailbox. The doorbell will ring, and Ed will leave his room to go get his package. If you want to win with anyone else than Bernard, it is mandatory that you get this package, so you must get there before Ed to pick it up.

When someone (other than you!) rings the doorbell and you see a cutscene of Ed leaving his room to go answer the door, drop everything else you are doing and hurry outside to pick up the package. If you conveniently left one of the kids outside the house, it's easy. Otherwise be quick, because you don't have long.

When Ed comes to get his package, he will first go down the hallways of the house. One thing you can take advantage of is that if he sees a kid on the way, he will run after him (as usual) but afterwards he will forget about the doorbell and just go back to his room, leaving the package unattended. I'd recommend using this trick if you don't have a kid close enough when the doorbell rings.

WALKTHROUGH

Entering the house

Now we are ready to begin! Your three kids begin in the mansion's driveway. If you want, you can read the sign on which is written the classic line "WARNING!! Trespassers will be horribly mutilated.". Just walk left here and you'll arrive in front of the mansion.

Now, how to get inside? The door is locked. You can ring at the door and Ed will come down, hoping his package has arrived. If he sees you, he'll tell you to scram and close the door. If you hide before he arrives, he'll think it's a prank and also close the door. Either way, it's no use. You need to pick up the doormat, and you will find a key underneath. Pick up the key. You can now unlock the front door with it.

You can pick up the bushes on the left to reveal a grating. However you can't open it, you aren't strong enough. That's ok, we'll come back later. Also note that there is a mailbox to the left. You don't need it now, but we'll be back.

Getting the silver key

Now that you're inside, it's probably tempting to open the first door and explore the kitchen, but I recommend getting the silver key first. Walk to the stairs and note the knobless door on the right. There must be a secret mechanism to open it, you think. And indeed, there is: push (or pull) the gargoyle on the right and the door will open. But as soon you as move, the door closes again. What you need to do is bring a second kid, and have one of them push the gargoyle while the other one goes through the door. I recommend moving the kid who pushed the gargoyle out of the hallway afterwards, or he is bound to get caught by Dr.Fred's family at some point.

Note that you can beat the game without using the gargoyle trick, since you can also get inside the cellar by letting yourself get thrown into the dungeon and escaping. But being able to enter with the gargoyle makes things a lot easier.

In the cellar, use "What Is" to locate the light switch, and turn it on. You're standing next to a nuclear reactor! If you attempt to read it, you get to see the dubious joke "Made in Chernobyl". Walk all the way left and you will see a locked door, a fuse box and a silver key hanging next to it. The door leads to the dungeon, but it's locked and you don't have the key. It's possible to turn the power off with the fuse box, but don't mess with it yet. Just take the silver key and go back to the hallway.

Exploring the kitchen

Now you can open the first door and enter the kitchen. Be careful because at the beginning of the game Edna is in there, looking inside the fridge. When she sees you she'll run after you, and will be happy to send you to the dungeon if she catches you. There are two ways to avoid her:

1) Enter the kitchen and walk slowly to the fridge. As soon as she sees you and starts running after you, immediately go back to the left and exit the kitchen without wasting any time. If you are fast enough, she won't catch you, and she won't be there anymore when you return.

2) Wait a little while before entering the kitchen. Either just stand there or go do something else in the meantime. If roughly 7 or 8 minutes have passed between the moment you entered the house and the moment you explore the kitchen, she won't be there anymore.

If you do get caught, at least she will be gone when you return.

Usually, some time after you entered the kitchen, you will see a cutscene of Ed in his room, saying he's hungry. He will then go down to get something to eat in the fridge. When this happens, make sure you no longer have a kid either in the kitchen or in the house's hallways, or Ed will see him and send him to the dungeon if he catches him. Wait approximately one minute and you will see a new cutscene of Ed in the kitchen. If the cheese is still in the fridge, he will take it, otherwise he'll complain there's no cheese left. Either way, he will leave. The cheese is not an important item in the game so it doesn't matter what happens to it. Stay out of the hallways for a bit more while he goes back up to his room, then you can resume your regular activities.

Now, on with the walkthrough. Get the flashlight. There's a microwave oven here, it'll be useful later. Is that... blood!? The chainsaw seems like an important item, but it's out of gas, and there is no gas in the game, so the chainsaw is useless. Leave it there. When you reach the sink, this is where you want to be careful because you're about to reach the fridge, as well as Edna if she is still there. Deal with her as explained above.

Open the fridge and take the can of Pepsi (note the early use of a product placement in a video game!). Seems like the "blood" you previously saw was in fact ketchup. If you want, you can also take the old batteries from the fridge and put them inside the flashlight, allowing it to bring some light in darkened rooms when you turn it on. However the batteries are so old they will only work for a very short time before they become useless, so I usually don't bother taking them. We will find fresh, long-lasting batteries later on.

Storage room and swimming pool

Go through the door on the right to enter the dining room. There's nothing of interest here. Walk all the way to the right and go through the door to enter a small storage room. Pick up the glass jar and the fruit drinks.

Michael: Try to pick up the bottle of developer. The bottle will fall and break, but don't worry, we'll find a way around that later.

The other door is locked. Open it using the silver key you picked up earlier, and walk in. You are in front of Dr.Fred's swimming pool, which, as you will discover later, serves as a cooling device for his nuclear reactor. This means the water in the swimming pool is radioactive. Use the glass jar on the pool to fill it up. During the rest of the game, be very careful to remember whether the jar contains harmless tap water from the kitchen or radioactive water from the pool, because it looks the same in your inventory but getting it mixed up can have dire consequences!

If you want, you can open the gate to go in front of the garage. But the garage door is closed and you aren't strong enough to budge it right now, so there's no use.

When you're done, walk all the way back to the hallway and go through the door on the far right.

Living room and library

You are now in a living room. If you open the cabinet door, you'll see there's a cassette player here, but we have no cassette, so let's move on.

Bernard: Open the old radio and pick up the radio tube. Only Bernard himself can do this.

Go right, and you will spot a key hanging on the glass chandelier. Interesting! But you have no way to reach it as it's too high, so keep going right and through the door.

You have entered another darkened room. Use "What Is" to locate the lamp next to you and turn it on (If you want, there's a similar lamp at the other end of the room).

Go past the stairway which is "out of order". This is a red herring as you have no way to fix it, so ignore it and keep going right. The phone is also broken. If you have Bernard or Jeff, you'll be able to fix it later, but at the moment you don't have the proper tools. Instead, move your cursor to the last panel in the library, identified as "loose panel". Open it and you will find a blank cassette tape inside. Take it.

Note the presence of "Chuck the Plant", a recurring character in Lucasfilm games, even though "Chuck" is a completely unremarkable and useless plant.

Now, go back to the hallway. It's time to climb up the stairs.

First floor

Once you're upstairs, ignore the middle door for now, go left and through the door.

Seems like Dr.Fred has been trying to paint a portrait of his beloved Meteor. Take the bowl of wax fruit and the paint remover. It's tempting to try and use the paint remover on the easel (or other things), but don't do it, it won't do anything and you will waste the paint remover, which you need to save for later. This is one of the very few "dead ends" in the game that I find rather mean.

Now leave this room and go through the corresponding door on the right.

There's a piano as well as recording equipment here, but you have no use for it just yet.

Syd, Wendy or Razor: Turn on the TV to watch Mark Eteer's ad. You will need his address later on. Note that only the kids who watched the ad will know the address.

Leave the room. You can now go through the middle door.

The security door

This door is different depending on the version of the game you are playing.

- If you are playing an old, non copy-protected version, the door will just be a regular door. Simply open it and ignore this paragraph.

- If you are playing a copy-protected version, you will see a steel security door. Using the code reference leaflet found in your game box, use the keypad and type the correct code to open the door. Entering a wrong code will make the house's alarm go off. You then must hurry and type in a correct code or the house will blow up.

If you are playing with Bernard, do NOT make him read the warning sign or he will attempt to crack the keypad and will make the house explode.

- If you are playing a non copy-protected version made after the copy-protected version was made, you will still see the steel security door as it was easier for the programmers to leave it there rather than remove it. However you no longer need the code reference leaflet to open it.

Note that Bernard will still make the house explode if you make him read the warning sign.

Medical lab and arcade room

The first door leads to the medical lab, which you only ever need to enter if you want to win with Wendy, though you can visit it for fun.

Go inside, use "What Is" around the left side of the screen to find the desk lamp, and turn it on. If you want, you can read the blackboard and Dr.Fred's bogus diplomas ("Mail-A-Med Diploma" and a degree in mummifying and bandaging from "Docs 'R Us").

Wendy: Open the desk and pick up the manuscript. This is the Meteor's memoirs. Interesting concept, but the writing is terrible. We'll do something about that later.

The medical cabinet is locked and there's no key for it anywhere in the game, so forget about it. You can now leave the room.

The second door leads to the arcade room. You do not have any quarters to play, and anyway the games are broken. There's nothing to do here right now, so skip it.

Walk up the stairs again.

Dealing with Green Tentacle

Here you will meet Green Tentacle for the first time. If you're playing with Bernard, you're going to need to switch to another kid, as Bernard is so scared of him that he runs away screaming.

First, Green Tentacle will tell you that he's hungry and that you need to feed him. The easiest way is to give him the bowl of wax fruit you picked up earlier. So give him that.
An alternative solution to this puzzle is to give him ALL the edible food you found downstairs in the kitchen, dining room and storage room (lettuce, cheese, broken bottles of ketchup, old rotting turkey, week old roast, tentacle chow, canned goods). So if you want, you can give him all these items instead, but the only difference is that it requires more effort from you. If you let Ed take the cheese from the fridge earlier, you have no choice but to go for the wax fruit option.

After eating, he will be thirsty and demand a beverage. He will accept either the fruit drinks or a jar of water. If you're using this walkthrough, we have the glass jar filled with radioactive water saved for later, so just give him the fruit drinks. He will then leave you alone and let you pass.

The door leads to the film developing lab, which you don't need right now since you have no film to develope. Skip it and go up the stairs.

Third floor

Go through the first door. This is Dr.Fred's room, but thankfully he is busy in his secret lab and will never be found in his room. There's a radio here, but it's broken. Pick up the dime on the floor.

Bernard: Use the radio tube on the tube socket to repair the radio. Only Bernard himself can do this. Read the poster on the wall to get the number of the Meteor Police. The number will be either 0525, 1138 (a reference to George Lucas's THX-1138), 1977 (the release year of Star Wars), 3412 or 9111 (a play on the American police number, 911). You may now turn on the radio and use it to contact the Meteor Police, but don't do it yet! You need to open the secret lab's door first, which isn't possible right now, so leave the radio alone.

Go up the ladder.

You are now in Green Tentacle's room. He will come to you and tell you about how depressed he is because he can't get his band started. Note that Bernard is no longer scared of him at this point.

If you want, you can read the rock poster to see the in-joke "See Ron Gilbert live at the Forum!" (Ron Gilbert being one of the game's primary developers). The picture reads "To my slimiest son, love MOM". The speakers read "THX sound", another THX-1138 reference.

There's a cassette player here, as well as a record labelled "tentacle mating calls". Pick up the record. Also go to the far right of the screen and pick up the yellow key.

Now go back down to the hallway.

You are now able to obtain the old rusty key, which opens the dungeon door. This is not mandatory to win the game, but it makes things a whole lot easier. So unless you are an expert with the game, I recommend you do it and read the section below. If you don't want to do it, just skip to the next section.

Getting the old rusty key

Go back to the room with the piano. When you play the "tentacle mating calls" record on the Victrola, it emits a sound so high-pitched that it makes glass break, as you find out when this happens to the vase on top of the piano. Interesting! So, use the cassette tape in the cassette recorder and the record on the Victrola. Turn on the cassette recorder and it will start recording. Now turn on the Victrola and the record will play. Turn off the recorder and pick up the tape. You now have a tape with the tentacle mating calls.

Go downstairs to the living room. Put your new tape into the cassette player inside the cabinet. Turn the player on. The tentacle mating calls will play, breaking both windows and making the glass chandelier fall down. You can now pick up the old rusty key, which was previously too high to reach. This key opens the dungeon's door and will make your life easier. Now, go back to the third floor hallway.

Back to the third floor hallway

Skip the two middle doors for now. They respectively lead to Edna's room and Ed's room, and chances are they are currently inside, so if you enter they'll catch you and send you to the dungeon. Note that if you quickly enter and leave before they get the time to catch you, Ed will not continue running after you in the hallway, but Edna will, so scram!

Instead, go through the fourth door to enter the room of dead consin Ted.

Ted's room

There are many jokes here. There's a sarcophagus complete with a pillow and a TV, surplus body parts, a Playboy calendar, and a "Miss Mummy of 982 BC" poster. All of this presumably belongs to Ted.

Use the Hunk-O-Matic to pump some iron. From now on, the kid who used it will be strong enough to open the grating outside the house, as well as the garage door. Note that only the kid who used it will be stronger, if you want to make your other kids stronger as well, they also need to use the Hunk-O-Matic.

If you go right and through the door you'll enter the bathroom, which is only interesting to visit if you have Michael, Bernard or Jeff in your team.

Michael: Pick up the sponge.
Bernard or Jeff: (optional) Open the shower curtain, revealing the mummified body of dead cousin Ted! Although you may fear that he could come back to life and attack you, he is permanently dead and will not interact with you at all during the game. There's a message scribbled on the wall, "For (a) good (time) - Edna (....)" but you can't read the number as Ted's body is in the way. We'll do something about it later. With the number, you will be able to call Edna over the phone to distract her, but there is another way (see the "Distracting Edna" section below), so this is not mandatory to win the game.

Now, go back to the hallway and go through the door on the far right.

Feeding the man-eating plant and other fun things

This hatch on the ceiling sure looks intriguing, but you currently have no way to go up. Is there something you could do with the fiesty man-eating plant below? Yes, there is.

Use the jar of radioactive pool water on the man-eating plant. This will make it grow so high that it'll reach the ceiling. You still can't climb it however, because the plant is agitated and hungry for human flesh. Use the can of Pepsi on it, and it will give it digestion problems: it will now regularly burp, but more interestingly, it won't be hungry anymore, so you can now safely climb it.

Note that, instead of the glass jar, you can also use the sponge in the swimming pool and then use it on the man-eating plant to make it grow. But since the sponge doesn't hold as much water as the jar, the plant will first grow to an intermediary size, until you do it a second time to make it grow tall enough to reach the hatch!

You are now able to go up to the telescope room, but it's no use right now, so hold your horses, we'll go there later. There are other things to do.

Wendy: Use the manuscript in the typewriter. Wendy will rewrite it, considerably improving the writing and making it fit for publication. Only Wendy herself can do this.

Use the paint remover on the paint blotch to reveal a hidden door. This new door leads to a darkened attic. Use "What Is" to locate the light, turn it on, and have a look around. There are some broken wires here you should be able to fix if you had the proper tools. But you don't, so just have a look around and leave.

Distracting Edna

Now, we need to temporarily get rid of Edna so we can explore her room (the second door in the hallway). There are two days to do this:

1) Have one kid call her on the phone while another kid enters her room. You need Bernard or Jeff to do this, and there will be a bit of walking around.

Bernard or Jeff: (optional) Go all the way back down to the garage. Now that you've used the Hunk-O-Matic, you are strong enough to open the garage door. Use the yellow key on the trunk (but NOT on the car or you'll make it lift off!) to open it. Pick up the tools inside the trunk. Also pick up the faucet handle on the shelf. Go back to the library and fix the phone with the tools. Only Bernard or Jeff can do this. Now, you've got a working telephone, but no number to dial... yet. Go back up to Ted's bathroom and use the faucet handle on the faucet. Turn it on and Ted will move to avoid the water. Now turn the water off, and you can see Edna's number. It will be either 1547, 2275, 3444, 5235 or 7537. What you need to do now is to position one kid in the library, and another near Edna's room. Have the kid in the library use the phone and call Edna's number, then switch to the other kid and make him enter Edna's room. She will be on the phone, explaining how to do obscene phone calls, and won't pay attention to you.

2) If you do not have Bernard or Jeff on your team, this is the only way to do it. It's actually easier, though not as fun. Have one kid hide in a room near Edna's, then have another kid go inside. She will catch him and take him to the dungeon. While she's doing that, have the first kid come out of hiding and quickly enter her room. She will be gone.

Now, Edna is either gone, or not paying attention. Use this opportunity to explore her room, but don't take too long, or she will come back / hang up, and run after you.

The only thing of interest in the room itself is the small key on the night stand. Pick it up. Note that you can beat the game without taking this key, but you might very well need it at one point, so just take it. Now go to the right end of the screen and up the ladder.

NB: In addition to the two methods given above, it is also possible, if you're quick, to enter the room while Edna is there and, if your timing is good, dash to the ladder without getting caught. But it does not allow you to take the small key, and you can't use the same trick when you leave. It's also very risky because it won't work every time, so I don't recommend it.

You arrive in a darkened attic. Use "What Is" to locate the light above you, and turn it on.

What a strange place to keep a painting! Is it perhaps used to conceal something? Yes, it is. Open that painting, revealing a wall safe behind it. Too bad you don't have the combination. There's a scrawled number under the safe, could that be it? But it's too tiny to read!

Now, you will need to work on obtaining the combination. If you want, you can leave the kid in the attic for now and use the two others to do it. Or you can get the kid out of the attic and let him do it himself. In that case, you will need to go past Edna a second time when you leave. You can either use the same tricks as before (by using the phone or by creating a diversion), or just go down the ladder, let yourself get caught, and escape the dungeon.

Distracting Ed

Now, you need to explore Ed's room (the third door in the hallway), so you must make him go away for a bit.

As with Edna, hide one kid in one of the nearby rooms (but not in the hallway). You then need to create a diversion.

1) If Ed hasn't received his package yet, either through the delivery man or through you, you can get another kid to ring the doorbell and Ed will go answer the door. Now, with the hidden kid, wait a few seconds for Ed to leave the hallway, then come out of hiding and safely enter Ed's room. Also make sure you don't have any kids standing in the rest of the house's hallways or he will see them as he goes to answer the door.

2) If Ed has received his package, he will ignore the doorbell from then on. The only way to distract him is to have another kid enter his room and let himself get caught. While that kid is taken to the dungeon, have the first kid come out of hiding and enter Ed's room.

If Ed is on good terms with you and doesn't react when you enter his room (but it shouldn't be the case if you've followed this walkthrough), you can still get him to send you to the dungeon if you attempt to pick up his hamster or open his piggy bank.

Now that you are alone in Ed's room, you must be quick because he won't be gone for long and there are several things to pick up before he comes back. First, pick up the hamster. You don't need it to beat the game, but there's a key card hidden underneath. Pick it up. Try to open the piggy bank and it will break, revealing three dimes inside. Pick up the dimes, which can be tricky as they're so small (note that picking up only one is sufficient if you follow this walkthrough to the letter). Now, quickly leave the room and don't stay in the hallway, because Ed will be back soon.

In-joke: If you read the pennant, it will read "L.F.L.U. Rah!". LFL is the legal abbreviation for Lucasfilm Ltd., so L.F.L.U. would be Lucasfilm University.

If you weren't fast enough and got caught, simply escape from the dungeon and start the process again. In the future, if Ed wants to send you to the dungeon but you don't want to go there, you can get a one-time free pass by giving him his hamster back.

Getting the combination to Edna's safe

You are now ready to obtain the combination. Go to the telescope room by climbing on the man-eating plant.

The telescope allows you to look outside and see close-ups of various spots of the mansion. You can make it move by inserting a dime in the coin slot and pushing the left / right buttons to make it move left or right. You will need to insert a new dime each time you make it move.

You should have four dimes by now, the one found on the floor of Dr.Fred's room and the three found in Ed's piggy bank. You can't get any others, so don't mess with the telescope too much or you'll find yourself unable to make it move and unable to obtain the combination!

Use a dime in the coin slot and push the right button. Repeat the process a second time. Use the telescope. You will see an extreme close-up on the scrawled number under Edna's safe: the combination! It will be either 0120, 1029, 1230, 3621 or 4186.

If you're wondering why I made you go to Edna's attic before getting the combination, this is because you needed to first turn the light on and open the painting, otherwise you wouldn't have been able to see the combination.

Useless but fun trivia: If, before you touch anything, you make the telescope move left, you will get to look at the Mars surface and see an angry alien. It is then possible to make it move right to have it come back to its previous position, then make it move right twice more to see the combination. This allows you to see the alien and still see the combination, but you need the four dimes to do this.

Now, whether you conveniently left a kid in Edna's attic or not, you need to go back up there. Deal with Edna as before.

The safe and its contents

Open the safe using the combination you just obtained. Pick up the sealed envelope.

Syd, Wendy or Razor: Do NOT open the envelope right away, or you will rip it and make your game unwinnable. This is the second "dead end" that I find rather mean. Instead, go back to the kitchen, open the microwave and place the envelope inside it. Fill up the glass jar with tap water by turning on the faucet and using the jar on it. Then put the jar of water inside the microwave as well. Do NOT use the radioactive water from the pool, or you will die! Close the microwave and turn it on, which will steam open the envelope and allow you to open it without ripping it. Open the microwave and pick up the envelope. You can't pick up the glass jar yet as it's too hot, but you no longer need it. You can now safely open the envelope.

If you don't want to win with Syd, Wendy or Razor, you can just open the envelope right away. It will get ripped and will be unusable, but you won't need it.

The envelope contains a quarter. That seems like a pretty awful prize for all the effort you put in, but it will be very useful soon.

Opening Dr.Fred's secret lab - Part 1: getting the glowing key

If you've been to the dungeon yet, you'll have noticed it has a heavily locked door leading to the secret lab. In order to open it, you'll need both a key and a combination. Let's work on getting the key first.

Choose a kid who used the Hunk-O-Matic in Ted's room and make him go outside the house. Pick up the left bushes if you haven't already. Thanks to the Hunk-O-Matic, you are now strong enough to open the grating. Open it, go inside and go right.

Michael: The puddle of developer coming from the bottle you broke earlier has landed here. Use the sponge to collect it.

Keep going right until you reach the water valve. This controls the water level of the swimming pool, and allows you to drain it. Be careful however, because the pool serves as a cooling device for Dr.Fred's nuclear reactor, so you can only keep it drained for a short time or the reactor will overheat and the house will explode. Before you touch anything, make sure you don't have a kid in the cellar, because Purple Tentacle will go there and, if he sees anyone, he will send them to the dungeon.

Position another kid in front of the swimming pool. Switch back to the kid in front of the water valve and turn it on. Switch to the kid near the swimming pool and it will be drained. Go down. Pick up the glowing key as well as the radio. Now quickly go back up. Make sure your kid is totally out of the pool and not even on the ladder anymore, then switch again to the kid in front of the water valve and turn it off. The pool will refill and you can leave.

Opening Dr.Fred's secret lab - Part 2: getting the combination

Open the radio to find fresh batteries. Use them in the flashlight. Now you've got a flashlight that will last as long as you need.

If you don't have the tools yet, get them now. Choose a kid who used the Hunk-O-Matic in Ted's room and make him go in front of the garage. You are now strong enough to open the garage door, so open it. Use the yellow key on the trunk (but NOT on the car or you'll make it lift off!) to open it. Pick up the tools inside the trunk.

Go back to the room with the man-eating plant, and go through the door you revealed with the paint remover to enter the attic.

If you haven't already, use "What Is" to locate the light and turn it on. The light will be off very soon, but seeing where the broken wires are located will make you gain time.

You need to fix the wires using the tools from the car's trunk. But you cannot fix them while the power is on or you'll get electrocuted (this is not lethal, but prevents you from doing it). So, switch to another kid and have him go to the cellar and in front of the fuse box. Open the fuse box and turn off the circuit breakers to shut the house's power off, making every room go dark. As with the pool draining above, you can't let the power off for too long or the reactor will malfunction and the house will explode.

Once the power is off, switch back to the kid in the attic. Turn on the flashlight. Use the tools on the broken wires and the kid will fix them. You can now switch back to the kid in the cellar and turn on the circuit breakers to make the power go back on. Purple Tentacle will be there soon, so make the kid leave as quickly as possible if you want to avoid the dungeon.

Now that the wires are fixed, the games in the arcade room are working again. You must now wait for a cutscene of Dr.Fred in the arcade room, where he will be playing "Meteor Mess". Do not leave a kid in that room, or Dr.Fred won't come. Perhaps he already tried to play, but couldn't because of the broken wires. Now he will be able to. Once this cutscene took place and Dr.Fred has successfully played, you can obtain the combination by going to the arcade room and using your quarter in the coin box of Meteor Mess. The high score displayed will be the combination. It will be either 3301, 5858, 7572 or 8640. If Dr.Fred hasn't played yet, the high score will be another, irrelevant number, so you must wait for him to play if you want the combination.

Note that he can come back and play a new game from time to time, which then changes the high score as well as the combination! If you had already opened the lab's inner door it will remain open, so you only need to worry about the combination changing if the door gets closed and you need to open it again.

The small key found in Edna's bedroom allows you to open the coin boxes and get your quarter back, should you use it too soon, use it in the wrong game (all the other games are dismissed as "Pretty boring!"), or need to use it again if Dr.Fred resets his high score.

Entering the secret lab

To enter the secret lab, go to the dungeon (either by using the gargoyle trick or by getting yourself captured on purpose). Use the glowing key on both padlocks, open the outer door, then open the inner door using the combination.

Don't go in yet because Purple Tentacle is guarding the place and you need to find a way to get past him. Note that when you'll be inside the secret lab, both the "New Kid" command and your ability to save the game will be disabled. You'll just get the line: "The Meteor has control of your computer and he won't let you save the game". So make sure you're ready before you enter.

The rest of the game will be very different depending on which characters you picked. Refer to the appropriate section below. Remember there is no way to win with Dave or Jeff so they are not listed here.

Final steps with Bernard

Winning with Bernard is by far the fastest and easiest way. First, make sure both doors of the secret lab are open. Go to Dr.Fred's room, turn on the radio you fixed earlier and use it. Call the Meteor Police with the number you read on the nearby poster. Now you have to wait for several minutes until the Meteor Police come and arrest the Meteor.

Congratulations, the Meteor's gone, but you still need to get past Purple Tentacle and rescue Sandy. Go to the dungeon and you'll notice the Meteor Police dropped a badge on the floor. Pick it up.

Make sure you have the card key you stole from Ed and enter the secret lab. Give the badge to Purple Tentacle. He'll think you're with the Meteor Police, hilariously start panicking, and run away.

Go through the door on the right. You've found Dr.Fred and Sandy! Dr.Fred will call Purple Tentacle to the rescue, to no avail. He will then start the house's self-destruct mechanism and you'll have two minutes to beat the game before the house explodes.

Walk to the right and use the card key inside the card slot to open the door. Go through it. All you need to do now is turn off the switch, and you've won!

Final steps with Syd or Razor

By now, Ed's package has probably arrived, and, as I instructed at the beginning of this walkthrough, you must have picked it up (if you didn't, you're screwed). Try to open the package and some unused stamps will come off.

Go back to the room with the piano. Put the cassette tape in the cassette recorder and turn it on to start recording. Now, play the piano with Syd or Razor (only they can play it). They will play a good tune which will be recorded on the tape. Turn off the cassette recorder and pick up the tape.

Go up to Green Tentacle's room and give him the tape. He will be impressed with it and, in exchange, drop his own demo tape on the bed. Pick it up. Note that once you do this, you do not get your own tape back and the demo tape cannot be overwritten, meaning you can no longer get the old rusty key if you hadn't already got it.

Since Green Tentacle was ranting earlier about how depressed he was that he couldn't get his band started, he'd probably love a recording contract for his band, don't you think? Use the tape in the envelope which you safely opened earlier in the microwave. Use the stamps from Ed's package on the envelope. Now all you need is an address. With a kid who watched the ad on the TV, use the envelope in the typewriter in the room with the man-eating plant, and he will type Mark Eteer's address.

Now, go outside the house. Open the mailbox, put the envelope in, close the mailbox, and use the flag to raise it and tell the mailman there's new mail to be picked up. You must now wait for several minutes for the envelope to be mailed to Mark Eteer. Go back inside the house and kill some time. Do NOT wait by the mailbox or the mailman won't come.

When Mark Eteer receives the tape, you will see a cutscene with his reaction. You still have to wait for the contract to arrive, so wait some more. As before, do not wait by the mailbox. The doorbell will ring when the contract has arrived. Go back outside, open the mailbox, and pick up the contract. Go up to Green Tentacle's room and give him the contract. He will be delighted and vow to protect you from now on. Note that he will ONLY protect the kid who gave him the contract! (whether that kid is the musician or not)

Go to the dungeon and open both doors of the secret lab. Make sure the kid who's under Green Tentacle's protection has both the yellow key and the card key you stole from Ed, then have him enter the lab. Purple Tentacle will try to stop you, but Green Tentacle will intervene and chase him.

Walk to the right and open the locker. Pick up the radiation suit. You'll need it to protect yourself from the Meteor's radiation waves. Use the card key inside the card slot to open the door. Go through it. Turn off the switch. Dr.Fred then comes back to his senses and attempts to turn off the self-destruct mechanism, but the Meteor prevents him to. Go to the Meteor and pick him up. Go through the door on the right and you'll end up in the garage!

With the yellow key, open the car's trunk (but do NOT use it on the car itself or you'll make it lift off too soon!) and use the Meteor with it to put it inside. Close the trunk and use the key on the car. It will lift off, getting you rid of the Meteor for good. You've won!

Final steps with Michael

By now, Ed's package has probably arrived, and, as I instructed at the beginning of this walkthrough, you must have picked it up (if you didn't, you're screwed). You must now give Ed his package.

Either go to his room or ring the doorbell and meet him in the hallways (but not outside the house). He will run after you, as usual. Let him catch you and, while he's talking, simply give him the package. He will thank you and from now on won't consider you an intruder anymore, as long as you don't do anything to offend him.

He will tell you he wants to free his father from the influence of the evil Meteor. But he lost his plans and wants you to find them for him. Hmm. Where could they be? Go back outside the house and look around the right bushes: there is now an undeveloped film laying there. Pick it up.

It's time to do your job as a photographer. Go to the hallway where you first met Green Tentacle and go through the door. Use "What Is" to find the red light and turn it on. It's a film developing lab, great!

The file drawers are locked and cannot be opened, so forget them. If you followed my instructions you have a sponge full of developer. Use the sponge in the developer tray. Now use the undeveloped film in the tray. Only Michael himself can do this.

Great! Now you have the plans. Go find Ed again and give him the prints. He will tell you he's ready to overthrow the Meteor, and will ask you to meet him in the lab.

Go to the dungeon and open both doors of the secret lab. Make sure you have both the yellow key and the card key you stole from Ed, and enter the lab. Purple Tentacle will try to stop you, but Ed will intervene and chase him. Note that he will do this for all kids in your team, even if they did not interact with him.

Final steps with Wendy

You have the Meteor's manuscript, which you already rewrote. Use the manuscript in the envelope which you safely opened earlier in the microwave. Use the stamps from Ed's package on the envelope. Now all you need is an address. With a kid who watched the ad on the TV, use the envelope in the typewriter in the room with the man-eating plant, and he will type Mark Eteer's address.

When Mark Eteer receives the manuscript, you will see a cutscene with his reaction. You still have to wait for the contract to arrive, so wait some more. As before, do not wait by the mailbox. The doorbell will ring when the contract has arrived. Go back outside, open the mailbox, and pick up the contract.

Go to the dungeon and open both doors of the secret lab. Make sure you have the card key you stole from Ed and enter the lab. Purple Tentacle will try to stop you, but just give him the contract and he'll let you go, figuring the Meteor will be happy to see it.

Walk to the right and open the locker. Pick up the radiation suit. You'll need it to protect yourself from the Meteor's radiation waves. Use the card key inside the card slot to open the door. Go through it. Turn off the switch. Dr.Fred then comes back to his senses and attempts to turn off the self-destruct mechanism, but the Meteor prevents him to. Go to the Meteor and give him the contract. He will abandon his life of crime for a lucrative career as a writer. You've won!

NB: It is also possible to get rid of the Meteor with the car, in the same way as with Syd/Razor or Michael. Refer to either of these sections for the details. Don't forget the yellow key before you enter!

The End

There are different endings to Maniac Mansion, depending on several factors. See the "Endings" section to see them all.

Final bits of trivia...

Did you notice how the periscope in the first part of the secret lab lets you see a heart-shaped pillow? Just like in Edna's room... Seems like Dr.Fred is spying on his wife!

The Pepsi machine and the control panel's four buttons in the secret lab are useless. If you want, you can use your quarter in the Pepsi machine to get a can of Pepsi, but there's no use for it. There originally was to be a red herring here. There was to be a long serial number written on the can, making you think you could type the serial number on the buttons and stop the self-destruct mechanism... but it wouldn't work. This was eventually considered too mean and was never used, so there isn't a serial number on the can.

There's an extra way to get rid of the Meteor in the Nes version. If you made the car lift off without the Meteor on board, you can hurry upstairs to the room with the man-eating plant and feed the Meteor to the plant. GULP!

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