The Monkey Island SCUMM Bar: Easter Eggs, Trivia, and Secrets

A common misconception is that the Phatt Island jail’s dog, Walt, is named after Walt Disney. Rather, he’s named after Steve Purcell’s dog. (Who at one point bit Dave Grossman. The dog did. Not Steve Purcell.)

Strangely, voices were recorded for the deleted LeChuck/Largo scene in Monkey Island 2: LeChuck’s Revenge Special Edition. The scene doesn’t appear in that version of the game, either, but through the magic of reconstruction, here’s what it would have sounded like. (Video taken from VGHF’s fireside chat video.)

While never mentioned (or visited) in Monkey Island 2, the top-right island off Booty is called “The Mysterious Island of Cleptomaniac Parrots.” Source: The Mojo Forums.

At some point, Booty Island featured a nighttime setting and was known as Crooked Island. Source: Various pieces of concept art.

When Guybrush chooses to go by “Captain Loogie” in the Booty spitting contest, it is not just another random name. Going by the Phatt Library, Captain Loogie is already a published spitting champ. “Great Expectorations” isn’t a random title, either. Other than the obvious “Great Expectations” reference, “expectorations” means “to spit,” and when Guybrush examines the book, he’ll describe it as ”thick.” Much like how he describes the green drink from The Bloody Lip that thickens his spit. Also, the book is green—another hint.

Chester, the less-than-friendly helpline technician in the Dinky forest, was modeled after Khris Brown who got her nickname from Tim Schafer. According to the Special Edition commentary, the in-game character’s to-the-point attitude was based on Tabitha Tosti, who Tim sat next to at LucasArts.

Chester was replaced by a male technician in the Special Edition.

Two deleted lines from when you try to pick up the Buzzsaw Girl poster in the woodshop. In the final game, the line reads: I can’t. He’s lacquered it onto the wall.

While in the proper game, you pick up the rat before sawing off Frank’s pegleg, you can hack the game to allow you to saw the leg off before picking up the rat. Do so, and you get some extra dialogue from Fin, calling for Muenster Monster to get help, Lassie-style.

In the rolling demo, you can see both a ladder and a fish in Woody’s shop. Press “Escape” to make the demo interactive, and you can enter the shack and interact with the ladder for extra dialogue. The fish lines have been manually re-inserted here from the dialogue file. Why were the objects removed? Presumably, they could confuse the players thinking they could use them to solve the angling puzzle.

For a long time during development, Largo went by a different name: Lord Jack. He is even referred to as such in the source code. While the origins of Largo are unknown, Ron confirmed in the Special Edition commentary that LaGrande is named after his hometown of La Grande, Oregon.

In the LeChuck’s Revenge hint book, one of the illustrations shows a treasure chamber in the Dinky Island tunnels. Had Guybrush fallen two feet back, he would have gone straight into it. Presumably, this room is a joke intended just for the hint book.

In Disneyland, parents can inquire about their lost children at the town hall. The sign in front of the building says, Lost Parents, Inquire Here for Children. Sources: Jack Rodford. Photo courtesy of Undercover Tourist.

In an early version of The Secret of Monkey Island, Mêlée Island was governered by one Governor Fat. This did, of course, change, and the character instead appeared as Governor Phatt in LeChuck’s Revenge. Credit: Video Game History Foundation—go there for the full animation and the backstory.

The only digital sound effect in Monkey Island 2 (until the FM-Towns version) was Largo’s yelp. According to Clint Bajakian, the voice was provided by Peter McConnell. McConnell, meanwhile, claims Bajakian voiced it. Subjectively, it does sound more like Clint.

Joy of Hex is a reference to Joy of Sex, a 1972 illustrated sex manual. That book is again a reference to Joy of Cooking, one of the most popular cookbooks in the US. Find all the books from LeChuck’s Revenge in our library section.

Buzzsaw Girl was a character in Steve Purcell’s comic book series, Defenders of Dynatron City. The series was later adapted into an animated TV pilot and a Nintendo game.

Guybrush tells Captain Dread he has natty dreads. This is a reference to the Bob Marley and the Wailers album, Natty Dread. Dreadlocks is also Dread’s hair style.

Guybrush’s made-up addresses:

• 221B Baker Street: Home of Sherlock Holmes.
• 10 Downing Street: The Prime Minister of the UK’s residence.
• 1060 West Addison: Wrigley Field baseball stadium in Chicago. (Dominic Armato is, coincidentally, a Cubs fan.)
• 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue: The White House.

Tim Schafer wanted Guybrush to be named Hank Plank. Source: Tim’s Tweets.

Kewpie is a brand of dolls and figurines that were conceived as comic strip characters by cartoonist Rose O’Neill. The tie-in dolls became popular in 1912—and served as the inspiration for the LeChuck doll. Source: Wikipedia.

This seminal scene—colliqually known as The Bone Dance—is inspired by the Disney Silly Symphony, The Skeleton Dance. The track used in Monkey Island 2 is called Dem Bones, a religious song written by James Weldon Johnson.

An early ad-copy draft. Credit: Ron’s Mastodon.

This version of Stan's Used Coffins only appeared in the demo of LeChuck's Revenge. Booty Island was, evidently, supposed to be set at night.

Did you know the Dinky Island name could sorta, kinda, but not really be found by looking at Wally's shack-door?

Zonker Harris is a character in Garry Trudeau's Doonesbury. In the Special Edition, the reference was switched to Jedi Knight's Kyle Katarn.

Early on in the design, Monkey Island 2's antagonist was supposed to be LeChuck's hellbent brother, El Carlo. Ultimately, the story was rewritten, and LeChuck was brought back.

This room inside of LeChuck's Fortress was cut from the game before the final background art was created, but a skeleton version using a pencil sketch survives in the source code. While there is no functional code for this, analysis of the SCUMM script suggests that a puzzle here involved making recipes by spelling out words using the first letters of the ingredients on the shelves. Code restored by Marius Winter, gameplay video by Jake Rodkin, MT-32 audio recording by Roger Holten. Courtesy of The Video Game History Foundation.

Restored from the game's original source files (thanks Marius Winter!), here are all five unused close-up cutscenes from the game. The first of these was never used at all, while the remaining four are technically in the game - just without the closeup art and animations! Courtesy of The Video Game History Foundation.

The puzzle during this portion of Monkey Island 2 is pretty infamous, but a look through the game's source code reveals that it used to be different - and probably a lot easier! This "deleted scene," with an abundance of unique dialogue, was restored using the game's original source code by Marius Winter. Courtesy of The Video Game History Foundation.

Press Alt+W anywhere in Monkey Island 2 to win the game. You will be sent straight to a custom credit screen!

The classic mode in the Special Edition is very different.

Yes, you can kill Guybrush in Monkey Island 2—sort of. Hang over the acid pit for five minutes, and Guybrush and Wally will drop into it. You will, of course, be revived straight away.

Keep trying to Pick Up Kate to get a bunch of different responses.

Did you know Stan's theme and the SCUMM Bar theme in the Monkey Island games are based on pre-existing compositions? Witness Go Tell Aunt Rhody and O Good Ale Thou Art My Darling. One or more tune has appeared in every game.