Version Differences
The CD version runs much faster than the Floppy Disk version. Probably because it was released with a newer version of the SCUMM interpreter.
On the Floppy version your cursor automatically reverts back to 'walk' if you click somewhere where there is no hotspot. That also means a few of the "select item" actions that are described in this route are unnecessary on the CD version.
The CD version has an extra cutscene when you pick up Conroy Bumpus' toupee, which adds a bit over 7s.
I’m not aware of any differences in terms of speed between the different language versions.
Controls
Hotkeys (for the English version of the game)
- enter
-
Simulates a left click - with the added benefit of being able to hold it down for repeated inputs.
- tab
-
Simulates a right click.
- esc
-
Skips certain cutscenes (pressing both mouse buttons at the same time accomplishes the same thing).
- .
-
Skips the current line of text.
- l
-
Selects the "look at" cursor.
- t
-
Selects the "talk to" cursor.
- w
-
Selects the "walk to" cursor.
- u
-
Selects the "use" cursor.
- p
-
Selects the "pick up" cursor.
- i
-
Opens the inventory screen.
- o
-
Puts the currently selected item on the cursor.
- e
-
Inspects the item that is currently on the cursor.
- x
-
Selects the first item in the inventory and puts the current item in that spot.
- s
-
Selects the last item in the inventory and puts the current item in that spot.
- d
-
Selects the next item (to the right) from the inventory and puts the current item in that spot.
- a
-
Selects the previous item (to the left) from the inventory and puts the current item in that spot.
Inventory
A large part of this run is planning out when and how to select items from the inventory. Sometimes it even makes sense to move things around just to be able to select them more quickly later on. Opening and closing the inventory takes a moment and you can’t move while it is open. We’re trying to do as much as possible with hotkeys and - if possible - while moving.
Sometimes closing the inventory takes about 0.7-0.8s longer than normal. If we could understand why this happens and learn how to avoid it, it could save a bit of time.
Route
HQ
Office
📦 Black light
📦 Money
Stairwell
Hold
esc
for the first cutscene, time the
esc
press for the second one
a
a
to select
Max
Street
📦 Orders
Carnival
Entrance
o
to select
orders
|
Tip
|
I aim for the center of the row of teeth above the entrance with the orders and just spam clicks to hand them in. |
Hall of Oddities
.
.
, screen scrolls,
.
esc
, hold
.
📦 Pass
📦 Yeti fur
📦 Hand in a bottle
Snuckey’s
Inside
Take lower route by delaying first click after entering
📦 Pecan candy
|
Tip
|
If you first click on the clerk with the candy (and skip the line of text) and then with bottle, Max will usually walk all the way up to the counter. Although if Max says his line at exactly the wrong moment, his movement will still be interrupted. |
s
to select
hand in bottle
Talk to Clerk:
duck
toilet
Pecan candy
Outside
📦 Cup
Talk to Max:
duck
rasp
📦 Rasp
Carnival
Entrance
Go right
Carnival rear
📦 Lens
📦 Flashlight
Tunnel of Love
Combine
flashlight
and
black light
, turn it on
d
d
to select
Max
Dougie’s place
d
d
d
to select
Pecan candy
Dougie:
esc
at fade to black
📦 Crowbar
Carnival rear
o
to select
crowbar
Trixie’s trailer
LOOK
at
score card
to save a pick-up animation
📦 Costume
a
a
to select
pass
Carnival rear
o
to select
pass
Show it to the cone guy,
.
.
.
esc
Hold
.
again after the cutscene
i
.
i
t
to check the inventory
Talk to cone guy:
duck
box
📦 Lost & Found ticket
Entrance
📦 Magnet
x
e
to inspect
magnet
World of Fish
Hold
esc
while walking towards the bucket
📦 Bucket of fish
Gator Golf
Entrance
📦 Golf ball-retriever
a
to select
bucket of fish
Driving range
|
Caution
|
Take your time to aim (a miss is extremely costly), then rapidly hit the swing button. |
-
Middle of the body
-
Middle of the tail
-
Already in position
-
Right half of the tail
-
Tip of the tail
.
Dunk the Beast box
esc
esc
u
esc
u
p
, hold
.
📦 Snow globe
|
Tip
|
In this case I find it easier to click both mouse buttons than to press
esc
.
Don’t forget to switch back to 'walk' when leaving. |
Entrance
d
a
to select
golf ball-retriever
Ball of Twine
Tram
|
Note
|
The tram will keep moving until it reaches its destination (at the top or bottom) while the inventory screen is opened. It will stay at the destination until you close the inventory and it always gives you a moment to get on. |
Walk up to the tram
- Inventory management
-
Combine golf ball-retriever and hand , pick it up LMB RMB LMB
Combine with magnet LMB
Move Max to the last spot in the inventory RMB LMB LMB , i s
Hold
.
when you reach the top in the tram
Restaurant
Talk to Psychic:
?
wrench
📦 Wrench
World of Fish
o
to select
wrench
Click on fish sculpture and switch to 'use' with
u
Click on sculpture and select
Max
with
s
Click on sculpture,
.
.
esc
.
.
esc
Ball of Twine
Kitchen
Max
is already selected
Click on
twine
and switch to walk
w
📦 Twine
Museum
x
to select
magnet
📦 Mood ring
Mystery Vortex
Entrance
. . .
|
Note
|
The colors and the correct door are set the first time you enter the door hallway. Leftmost door is always red, the one next to it orange. |
Magnet cave
esc
to skip mirror entry animation
.
.
.
|
Note
|
If you delay the esc press by at least a second, you get to see the colors of both doors on the right. |
Doors hallway
|
Tip
|
Lots of strategy to talk here. Someone should make a video or something… |
Souvenir shop
.
.
.
.
.
.
📦 Yeti fur
Shuv-Oohl’s home
a
to select
mood ring
(
o
if you haven’t picked up the
Yeti fur
yet)
Cancel out of the dialog with Shuv-Oohl and use the
mood ring
on him
Pause text-skipping to read where Frog Rock is
|
Note
|
Shuv-Oohl tells you about a random pair of adjacent landmarks out of 5 possible ones (5x . after he stops running). |
📦 Mole man powder
Ball of Twine
Tram
Walk up to tram
- Inventory management
-
Move items into the last 5 inventory slots:
-
mole man powder
-
Yeti fur
-
Yeti fur
-
Yeti fur
-
lens (last slot)
-
Restaurant
s
to select
lens
Click on Ketchup bottle in the background to walk behind the elevator
p
to use cables on binoculars,
.
.
.
,
u
to use binoculars
|
Note
|
The landscape looks as follows:
. 🪵️ . 🌧️ . 🌲️ . 🌀️ . 🌋️ (repeat) (Picture) The starting position of your field of view is random. |
| Level | Dial | 360° in: | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
|
0 |
|
∞ |
|
|
1 |
|
38s |
|
|
2 |
|
30s |
This is the speed you start at. |
|
3 |
|
15s |
|
|
4 |
|
8s |
To reach this speed, continuously mash the mouse button. |
|
Tip
|
If the first thing you see is a rock, immediately check that one to see if you got lucky - if not, look for the two landmarks Shuv-Oohl mentioned.
Hold
.
while checking rocks.
|
Frog Rock
4x
s
to select three
Yeti fur
s and the
mole man powder
in order
Bumpusville
Entrance
Make Sam walk diagonally
Bedroom
📦 Pillow
x
to select
hand
📦 Book
VR
📦 Sword
o
to select sword
Dragon’s hotspot marked in yellow, red dot on the sword is the tip of the cursor:
|
Tip
|
If you prep the mouse for the dragon’s huge-but-strangely-positioned hotspot and make absolutely sure the sword is selected, you can just hold enter during the dragon’s entrance.
Any other input than sword on dragon will cost a ton of time. |
📦 Key
Stage
esc
, then hold
.
o
to select
key
Only
.
s for the second cutscene, sadly
Animals
📦 Portrait
.
.
esc
Entrance
Make Sam walk diagonally
Outside
6x
d
to select
rasp
Hotel
Parking lot
.
.
.
.
Lobby
o
to select
rasp
, give to Yeti
x
to free up first slot in the inventory
Talk to Evelyn:
!
📦 Brochures
x
e
to inspect
brochures
Celebrity Vegetable Museum
d
to select portrait
Leave and come back
Talk to lady:
eggplant
📦 Muir eggplant
📦 Bumpus eggplant
Bumpusville
Entrance
Make Sam walk diagonally
Bedroom
o
to select
Bumpus eggplant
📦 Toupee
esc
esc
.
Mt. Rushmore
Entrance
x
to select
hand
Tar pit
.
.
Bungee
.
esc
while changing
- Inventory management
-
Prepare mouse position for item combination while walking over to Bungee rope
Combine hand and cup during Bungee jump: i LMB RMB LMB i
📦 Tar
|
Tip
|
Aim high at the elevator when leaving. That lady’s hotspot is tall. |
Entrance
d
to select
twine
Dinosaur statues
|
Caution
|
Any input interrupts the Dino’s talk. The jaw moves at random speeds with a worst case window of 0.1s to stop it. Prepare for misses! I try to use the button as far right as possible to avoid accidentally clicking on Max. |
Walk to the mammoth, use
Max
📦 Fur
Click on the rope to walk there, then use
Max
before the screen starts scrolling
Entrance
📦 Tooth
|
Tip
|
The "M" in "National Memorial" on the sign works as a cue to both use the car and click on the next destination. |
Hotel
Parking lot
.
.
.
x
to select
toupee
Lobby
- Inventory management
-
Hold . the entire time. The Yeti says a couple of lines at the end, too
Combine toupee with costume with tar with fur , then use u
Party
.
esc
x
to move inventory pointer to first slot
Freezer
📦 Screwdriver
x
to put
screwdriver
into first slot
Try to leave
i
u
Use
costume
in inventory
Use freezer door (aim at the top to avoid Max’s hotspot)
Immediately hold
esc
Party
📦 Wine
Ball of Twine
Tram
Walk up to tram
- Inventory management
-
Move snowglobe , pillow , tooth and eggplant into the last inventory slots
|
Important
|
The important part here is that the snowglobe is in the 4th to last spot. |
Restaurant
x
to select
screwdriver
Use
screwdriver
on Psychic
Tram
7x d to select wine bottle
Mystery Vortex
Entrance
- Inventory management
-
Hold . the entire time
Wine bottle is already selected to use on the screwdriver
Cork is selected automatically, use on snowglobe
5x
a
to select
snowglobe
Souvenir shop
Use vortex
Use
snowglobe
on vortex while inside it
|
Tip
|
If you prep the snowglobe before the animation starts, you can hold enter to start the cutscene asap. |
Hotel
4x
s
to select items to throw into the pool
|
Note
|
Handheld vortex last, because it has the longest cutscene after you use it and timing ends with the item use action. |
Miscellaneous notes
Other Documents
- Original Manual
-
A copy of the Original Manual can be found here: Sam and Max Manual (English, .PDF)
- Mike's Site
-
Mike the Viewer documented this route originally. I copied and pasted it exactly, and updated only the Keyboard Shortcuts, and added a link to the manual. Mike's original Route Page can be found Here.
Item Deletion Glitch
- What?
-
Make an item disappear from the inventory. It’s gone from the game. Does not work on Max.
- How?
-
Use an item on something else that uses up the item as normal. E.g. use the key on the keyhole or give the rasp to the Yeti…
Before the action happens, switch to a different item via hotkey.
Both items will disappear.
- Why?
-
You could use it to clear out useless items, which could make inventory management easier in certain situations. The fact that accidentally destroying the wrong item can soft-lock the game makes this very risky, though.
- When/where?
-
Item deletion opportunities:
-
Flame eater at the carnival (curiously, the item reappears in the inventory after you visit the Lost & Found ticket; also you don’t have any useless items yet)
-
Using the crowbar on the door to Trixie’s trailer (same problem with the item reappearing after the Lost & Found tent)
-
Attaching the lens to the binoculars (crashes on DOSBox, works on ScummVM)
-
Placing the items on Frog Rock (this would waste time due to the extra switching back and forth between items)
-
Using the key on the keyhole in Bumpusville
-
Giving the rasp to the Yeti
-
Giving the portrait to the lady at the vegetable museum
-
Throwing items into the pool at the end (well, the game is over anyway)
-