Telltale Games - Sam & Max

A surprise trip to the tropics turns into a working vacation when Sam & Max sign up to stop a massive volcano eruption. Will their special blend of bewildering wit and renegade justice be enough to win over the gods? (Not to mention the locals?)

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The official Sam & Max: Moai Better Blues walkthrough! NOTE: This is a full walkthrough for the game. The text and graphics are chock full of puzzle solutions and spoilers. If you haven't played the game yet and don't want stuff to be given away, don't read this! Check out the spoiler free screenshots and videos instead. Sam & Max have just arrived home from their last adventure on the North Pole to find a giant Bermuda Triangle chasing their neighbor Sybil down the street. Seems strange, but it's all in a day's work for the Freelance Police! The first order of business is to stop the triangle and rescue Sybil. But Sam & Max have no idea how. Who might be able to lend insight into a rogue inter-dimensional portal's behavior? How about Bosco, resident conspiracy theorist! Head into Bosco's Inconvenience Store to find out what he thinks of the situation. Ask Bosco how to stop the Bermuda Triangle. He'll tell you that you need to figure out how to communicate with the triangle. Next ask how you can talk to the triangle. Bosco will tell you that triangles are attracted to shapes and colors. Bosco says that a red octagon makes it stop whatever it's doing. That sounds promising. Let's look around Bosco's store for an item that could do the job. While looking around Bosco's, make sure to check out the Banang cans behind the Bomb Be Gone. Unfortunately Bosco won't let you buy any (he's saving it all for his secret bunker) but remember them, as they will come in handy later. Also take a look at the radio next to the microwave, which is Bosco's only link to THEM. There are no red octagons in here. Go back outside and walk to the right, to Stinky's Diner.
After a brief exchange with Stinky about the stain she's scrubbing on the counter (is that blood?), take a look around for something you can use to stop the triangle. Walk toward the jukebox. Flint Paper is here, looking through the window with a pair of binoculars, and right behind him there's a stop sign. Click on it to take it! While you're here, you might want to engage Flint in conversation. (You don't have to, but it is the neighborly thing to do.) Make sure to take a look at the menu above Stinky's head. There are two sandwiches on it: a Camp David Granite Grinder, and a Li'l Tykes Grinder with Basalt. If you ask Stinky about the specials, she'll tell you a bit more about them. You can then order the special, and she'll give you the Camp David Granite Grinder. (The other one is for kids only, FDA regulations and all.)
When you're done poking around at Stinky's, go back to the street. Walk towards the Inconvenience Store until you see Sybil and the triangle running by. Click the cardboard box in the lower left corner of the screen (this is Sam's inventory) and select the stop sign. Your cursor will turn into a stop sign. When the triangle gets close, click on it to make Sam throw the stop sign into the triangle. Well, there's another case solved. But wait, the giant stone head of Abraham Lincoln has just been sucked into the Bermuda Triangle! And now Sybil's jumping in after him! Freelance police work is never done... Welcome to Easter Island After the opening credits, Sam & Max will arrive in... a tropical paradise? That's right, it's Easter Island, the center of the paranormal universe (so claim the game designers, anyway). Sybil and Lincoln are having a picnic here, in full view of three giant stone heads. These are Moai heads, for those of you not up on your Easter Island trivia. Listen to what Sybil, Lincoln, and the Moai heads have to say about this place. The Moais will tell you about an ancient prophecy predicting that a cataclysmic volcano eruption will soon destroy the island. Sounds like another a job for the Freelance Police! Tell the Moais you'll take the case.
Once you accept the case, you can exit the conversation if you want, or you can keep talking to the Moais to gather some more information. There are three Moai heads. The one in the middle claims to be the guardian of the wind, but she's too depressed to give Sam & Max a demonstration. The Moai on the right is a grumpy fellow who guards the earth and doesn't find any of Sam & Max's jokes funny. He, too, refuses to demonstrate his powers. Then there's the guy on the far left, whose head is halfway down in the ground. He tries to tell Sam & Max what he's guarding, but his position in the ground makes him impossible to understand. Apparently he's easily annoyed, too, because asking him to enunciate just causes a thundercloud to appear over his head. There's not a whole lot you can do with these guys right now, but keep their roles in mind, because they'll be very helpful later. Now, it's time to start exploring the island. If you walk all the way to the right, you'll encounter the Fountain of Youth. You can try clicking on it, but for now you'll be foiled by a school of hungry piranhas.
Next, take a look at the smaller triangles on either side of the big triangle. One is silver, and the other is gold. Like the big one, these smaller triangles are also portals. Click on a portal and watch what happens to Sam's hand -- it goes through and comes out of the other portal. These things will definitely be useful! The two portals on either side of the Bermuda Triangle are perched on stands with gongs hanging from them. There are other stands like this around the island. Select Sam's gun from your inventory and shoot one of the gongs to see what happens. The portal moves to whichever gong you shoot. If you shoot a silver gong, the silver portal moves to that area, and if you shoot a gold gong, the gold portal moves. This will all come in handy later. Go back to where Sybil and Lincoln are sitting and chat with them for a while. Watch how Abe and Sybil react when you ask them about the Moai heads. Hmm… is there already trouble in paradise? Just behind Sybil is a cave with a huge neon sign on it. That must be the cave the Moais were talking about! Walk over there. Before you're able to get in, a baby in a fedora walks out and points a gun at you. He claims to be a famous missing person: Jimmy Hoffa. But why is he a baby? Talk to Jimmy Hoffa, and you'll learn that his growth was stunted by Fountain of Youth water (that's right, the same fountain with the piranhas in it). Jimmy won't let you into the cave right now, so walk left to get to the Tiny Tiki bar. A dog, a lagomorph, and a baby walk into a bar... There are more babies here, also victims of the Fountain of Youth. (If you're curious, their names are Amelia Earhart, Charles Lindberg Junior, and D.B. Cooper. Not sure who they are? Wikipedia is your friend!)
Check out the bucking surf board to the right of the tiki bar. The goal here is to avoid the bottles that are flying at Sam's head, using either your mouse or the arrow keys on your keyboard. Sam has three possible positions: leaning forward, standing up straight, or leaning backward. In addition to this, the surf board "bucks" forward and backward while you play. The bottles are always thrown at the middle of the surf board, so you just have to keep Sam away from that spot to avoid the bottles. If the board is level, make Sam lean forward or backward to avoid the bottles. If the board is leaning forward, you also want to lean forward, or you can make him stand up straight – just don't lean backward, or you'll get hit! And if the board is leaning backward, make Sam stand up straight or lean backward. Once you win, Sam will comment, "That was pointless." And yes, it is, right now anyway. But later on, you'll be glad you mastered that surf board early in the game!
Let's make some music! When you're done messing around with the surfing mini-game, walk all the way to the left. There's another baby here, amid a bunch of musical instruments. This is Glenn Miller, a famous big band musician presumed dead after a 1940s plane crash. After a little chat, he'll tell you he's looking for a few new sounds to incorporate into his next big hit: a train whistle, and a catchy melody.
Let's start with the train sound. Looking around the area, you'll notice a teapot hanging over a fire. That'd be great for a train whistle, if only you had some water! Luckily there are some dispensers on the bar. Click on each dispenser to find out what's inside: Diaper Rash (green dispenser on the right) contains bourbon, guava juice, mint, and talcum powder. Paci-Fire (red dispenser in the middle) contains kerosene, pepper spray, dihydrocapsaicin, and wasabi. Water (blue dispenser on the left) contains artificial colors, flavors, preservatives, and... water. Grab the tiki glass from the corner of the bar and use it on the water dispenser to fill it with water. Then use the water-filled glass on the teapot to fill it. You're on the right track, but the fire isn't intense enough to boil the water. Use the tiki glass again, this time on the Paci-Fire dispenser. Then pour the Paci-Fire on the flames and watch what happens. It's the perfect train sound for Glenn's new song!
Okay, one sound down, one to go. Before leaving the area, grab the mallet from the ground. You can use this to play around on the musical instruments, but Glenn Miller's been on this island for a long time, and he's already tried all that. This isn't the sort of sound he's looking for. Maybe you should check out an area Glenn hasn't visited before… like Sam & Max's street. Head back to the Bermuda Triangle and click on it to jump back through the portal. There are a few things you can do here, like visit Sam & Max's office or have a talk with Jimmy Two-Teeth, who's standing on the fallen robot, but if you want to cut to the chase, just walk to the right, past Stinky's, until you reach PimpLeCar, the autobody shop run by everybody's favorite obsolete computers. Conveniently, this month the COPS are pimping a musical car horn, available exclusively to beta testers of their new augmented reality game. Sounds like a job for... oh, you know. Just keep asking about the game until they say you can play it. (Note: Once you've learned about the driving game, you can also start playing by clicking on Sam & Max's DeSoto, which is parked in the alley between Bosco's Inconvenience and Stinky's Diner.)
The first time you play this game, it's absurdly easy. All you have to do is hit enough bagpipes to complete a verse of "I've been working on the railroad." As in the surfing game, you can move the car using the mouse or arrow keys. When you win the game, you'll return to the street automatically, where COPS will give you a musical horn. It's the perfect antidote for Glenn Miller's composer's block! If you want to keep playing the driving game to win decals for your car, click on the DeSoto. The game gets harder each time, and if you've played other Sam & Max episodes, you'll probably recognize some of the tunes that play when you hit the bagpipes! When you've had enough of driving, click the building icon in the lower right of the screen to return to the street, then head back to Easter Island through the Bermuda Triangle. Make sure you have the car horn in your inventory (if not, click on it to remove it from the DeSoto). Go back to the Tiny Tiki and give the car horn to Glenn Miller. Now he has everything he needs to finish his new song. Glenn will give you a conch shell that contains a demo of the song.
Use the conch on Sam to hear a snippet of Glenn's latest hit. Okay, so it's not the most technologically advanced music, but hey, this guy has been stuck on Easter Island since the 1940s! And it is a catchy tune… maybe you could run it by some of the island's other inhabitants to bring a smile to their faces? Let's start with that depressed Moai head! Happiness is a Warm Puppy
Go back to the Moais and use the conch shell on the Moai in the middle. She likes it! So much, in fact, that she starts whistling. While the center Moai is whistling, click on the Moai on the left and watch what happens. (If she stops whistling too soon, you can click the conch on the center Moai again.) When he tries to talk to you, the lightning cloud appears over the Moai's head, but this time since the Moai in the middle is blowing wind with her whistling, the cloud drifts to the side before the lightning strikes. Hmm... Hit the gong next to the left Moai, using either Sam's gun or the mallet, to make the portal appear next to him. Then repeat the process with the conch and the lightning cloud. This time, the cloud blows into the silver portal, and comes out through the gold portal before the lightning strikes. That's definitely useful! Can you think of anything in the area that would benefit from a lightning strike? Those annoying piranhas in the Fountain of Youth, perhaps?
Walk back to the fountain and hit the gong beside it. Then repeat the process with the conch and the angry Moai one more time, and watch the fireworks. Fried fish, anyone? With those pesky piranhas out of the way, it's now safe to dip your tiki glass into the Fountain of Youth. And, of course, the first thing you want to do with that glass of fountain water is to use it on Sam and Max. Well, don't you? (Trust us, you do.) Run around and enjoy your youth for a while. Eventually the fountain water will wear off (if you're tired of being a kid, you can speed up the process by trying to walk to the tiki bar). That Fountain of Youth water isn't just for fun. It can also be used to get rid of the only thing standing between you and the secret underground cave: Jimmy Hoffa. Fill up the glass again and try to give it to Jimmy. He'll say that he won't accept a drink from you until you join the waitresses union. To do that, you need to ride the bucking surfboard without spilling any drinks. Go to the Tiny Tiki and get ready to show off your mad surfing skills. (The Fountain of Youth water will evaporate on your way to the bar. Don't worry, you can always go back for more.) Did somebody say... birthday?
To play the waitress challenge, take the drink tray from Sam's inventory and click it on the surfboard. The game is a little different this time, because in addition to avoiding flying bottles, you also need to keep the bottle on the tray from sliding off Sam's head. To avoid the flying bottles, lean away from the center of the screen just as a bottle is thrown. To keep the bottle on your head from falling off the tray, stay upright as much as possible. (Just remember to dodge if being upright puts you in the path of a flying bottle!) Once you've won this version of the game, go back to the area where Jimmy Hoffa is. It's time to give that tyke a drink! But before you get the chance, you'll walk in on a heated conversation between Sybil and Lincoln. Your suspicions were right, there IS trouble in paradise! When the dust clears, go back to the Fountain of Youth and refill your glass. First, use the drink tray on Jimmy to let him know you're in the union. Next use the glass on Jimmy Hoffa. Hmm, this tastes familiar... oops, there he goes! With Baby Hoffa out of the way, you can finally click on the cave entrance to enter the ancient hidden underground cave.
The Plot Thickens Once underground, you're confronted by a trio of ocean chimps who claim you've angered their high priest, who just happens to be... the ghost of your former pet goldfish, Mr. Spatula! What makes Mr. Spatula the high priest? The ocean chimps claim it's because Mr. Spatula is able to influence the Mighty Feet (the feet of the Moai heads, which are hanging down into the cavern). Well, that doesn't seem too hard to pull off. Keep talking to the ocean chimps until Sam says that Max is the ancient high priest. They're not willing to take this at face value; you need to prove it by fulfilling the ancient prophecies: Max must be anointed by the feet by standing under them and making them move Max must perform a miracle by turning water into Banang Max's face must appear somewhere in the cavern
The ocean chimps say that if you demonstrate these three things and prove that Max is the high priest before sundown, they won't kill you. How gracious of them. Let's start by taking a look around the cavern. There's a gold gong underneath the feet. Hit it with the mallet to make the portal appear (your gun won't work underwater). If you look up, you'll see a stalactite that looks like Max's ear. This could be used as a second ear on the shell that looks like Max's face, but you'll need to get it down from there. Maybe that grumpy guardian of the earth up on the surface could pitch in an earthquake? Walk over to the yellow, submarine-like machine. This is the contraption Mr. Spatula is going to use to set off the volcano, and the ocean chimps won't let you in. Walk to the right, past the machine, until you see a snail with a slimy red trail. Click on the snail to take it. There's also a silver gong here, but don't bother clicking it. You're going to need the silver portal up on the surface.
Go left across the cavern until you reach the other side. To the left of the entrance, there's a crashed airplane. In front of the cockpit, you'll find a guidebook to Easter Island. Take it, and Sam will read a passage about basalt, which is a favorite Moai treat that helps them "tune in, turn on, and drop out." That grumpy Moai could use a little relaxation. Maybe the basalt sandwich from Stinky's kids' menu will do the trick! Click on the radio inside the cockpit. Adjust the frequency switch until your reach 7175 KHz -- the frequency of Bosco's radio. Click on the speaker and select "We are observing your earth." Then click the power switch to exit the close-up view of the radio, and exit the underground cavern to return to the surface. Dude... wait, what?
On your way past the Moai statues, shoot or hit the gong next to the center Moai to move the silver portal next to her ear. Then take another drink from the Fountain of Youth, so Stinky will give you the kid's special. Finally, jump through the Bermuda Triangle to return to Sam & Max's street. Walk toward Stinky's. As you walk past Bosco's, you'll turn back into adults. Apparently you can't go too far from the triangle or the effects of the Fountain of Youth water wear off. You might as well go into Bosco's, since you're here. (Note: You can't enter Bosco's as kids, so just keep walking right until you turn back into adults.) Apparently you scared Bosco good, because he's hightailed it out of here! Which is perfect, because now you can take a bottle of Banang. Next, go to Stinky's. Flint Paper is gone too. Interesting... You can ask Stinky for the basalt sandwich, but she won't give it to you. You'll need to find a way to get into Stinky's without the fountain's effects wearing off. Look around the diner for something that could help.
There's a big gong hanging over the jukebox, just like the gongs on Easter Island. Take out your gun and shoot it. Nothing happened. That's too bad. Why doesn't Stinky's gong work like the ones on Easter Island? Take the snail out of Sam's inventory and use it on the gong. The gong will be splattered with red ink. Now take out your gun and shoot it again. Just like the gold and silver gongs on Easter Island summon the gold and silver portals, the red gong summons the red Bermuda Triangle. Perfect! Hop back through the triangle and take a drink from the Fountain of Youth. Right after Sam & Max turn into children, jump back through the portal to arrive inside Stinky's. Then ask her for the special, and she'll give you a basalt sandwich. Back on Easter Island, give the basalt sandwich to the grumpy Moai. Whoa, that's a change in attitude. Anything you say to him after this will make him laugh so hard the earth moves. The Grand Finale Now everything's set up for you to prove the three prophecies. Go back into the cavern. To make the feet anoint Max: Click on the ocean chimps and tell them you're ready for the feet to anoint Max. Max will stand under the feet and the ocean chimps will ask if the feet recognize him as their servant. Take the conch from Sam's inventory and click it on the gold portal. The Moai's reaction to the toe-tapping music will make it appear as if she's responding to Max. To turn water into Banang: Use the jar of Banang on the ceremonial urn under the feet. To make Max's face appear in the cavern: Take the stalactite, which fell to the ground during the earthquake, and use it on the seashell that looks like Max. Congratulations! The prophecies have been fulfilled, and Max can now add High Priest to his ever-growing resume. The ghost of Mr. Spatula is not amused. Sam & Max run into the volcano machine and ride to the top of the contraption as the ocean chimps have a drawn-out conversation with the phony high priest. When they reach the top, Max will knock Mr. Spatula's water cooler to the ground. Mr. Spatula's high priest medallion and crown of socks will fall, too. But the Freelance Police are too late! Hot lava is already flowing through the pipes to the volcano. You'll need to find another way to stop the volcano eruption. Press the "In case of emergency" button behind Sam, then enter the machine pod to go back downstairs. Walk over to the fallen Mr. Spatula and take his high priest's medallion. Dip the medallion in the red snail trail. Now you have a red octagon, just like the stop sign you used to stop the Bermuda Triangle at the beginning of the game. For fun, take the crown of socks to crown Max as the new high priest. Then click on the exit to go back up to the surface. There's another huge triangle flying by, and it's sucking up everything in its wake, including the portal back to Sam & Max's street! Plus, the volcano's about to explode! Luckily, there's a gong next to the volcano. Shoot it to send the gold portal over to the volcano. Then go back to where the Bermuda Triangle used to be and shoot or hit the silver gong that's within Sam's reach. Use the high priest's now-red medallion on the silver portal, sit back, and watch the closing scene. (Make sure to watch the credits, too -- there's a surprise at the end!) Good job! You've completed Sam & Max: Moai Better Blues! Official Sam & Max: Moai Better Blues walkthrough © 2008 Telltale Games. Do not repost without permission.

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The islands are calling! Join Sam & Max for another trip through the Bermuda Triangle and check out all this stuff you may have missed the first time around. (Thanks once again to Brendan Ferguson for writing up the list.)

Note that there are great big honking spoilers below. This list is really for people who have already completed Moai Better Blues. Read them at your own risk.

In Sam & Max: Moai Better Blues, did you...

...talk to Max in Bosco’s before stopping the triangle, and after getting the Banang?

...talk to Max in Stinky’s before stopping the triangle, and after getting the Banang?

...talk to Flint several times?

...talk to Max in your office?

...talk to Max on the street after speaking to Bosco the first time, and after going to Easter Island?

...get all three versions of the bagpipe decal, and the four other decals, and claim your mystery prize?

...talk to Bosco and Stinky after having gone to Easter Island?

...try ordering things besides the special from Stinky as kids?

...tell several jokes to the uptight Moai?

...talk to Max on Easter Island both before and after going underwater, and again in the last scene?

...talk to Max by the Tiki Bar right before the volcano explodes?

...point your gun at some babies and click?

...try to give a bar drink to baby Glenn Miller or Sybil?

...try to give some Fountain of Youth water to Sybil?

...bang on everything near Glenn Miller with the mallet?

...use the tray on the babies?

...use the conch shell on Jimmy Hoffa, the Moai heads, and the Ocean Chimps?

...try to give a granite sandwich to Lincoln, the Moai heads, the babies, and the Ocean Chimps?

...try to give the basalt sandwich to the female Moai head and the babies?

...use the sea snail on Noah’s Ark, Abe Lincoln, or the babies?

...pour Banang into the Fountain of Youth?

...use the Banang on the babies?

...talk to Flint while you were a little kid?

...see four different shirts for kid Sam?

...say "Attencion!" and "Tora! Tora! Tora!" to the old man on the radio?

...talk to Max underwater both before deposing Mr. Spatula and immediately afterwards?

...put the sock crown on Max’s head?

...turn the hints up to high and try not to solve puzzles no matter how obvious?

Well, did you? Tell us how it went.