I was introduced to Monkey Island (and the rest of the LucasArts classics - Grim Fandango, Sam & Max Hit the Road, Full Throttle, Day of the Tentacle - and even Discworld Noir) thanks to a friend at college.
Unfortunately, I no longer see or hear from that friend anymore. Shame. But I digress...
The first Monkey Island game I played was The Curse... and I loved it!
Even my sister played and enjoyed it, and she isn't much of a gamer. After that it was Escape... and then I decided to check out the originals. I did *ahem* download them, and unfortunately I also ruined my experience with them somewhat by using a walkthrough all the way through.
Thankfully after a while, and forgetting the puzzles a bit, I did replay and beat them by myself!
After that, I managed to win the Bounty Pack on eBay, which contains the originals, and added them to my collection properly. And as time went on, I decided to get my hands on all of them in their original big boxes.