Short, to the point post:

Hi. I don't have graph paper. I want to play MM1.
Someone on here mentioned using Excel. I do not have Excel.
Excel is a spreadsheet program. I assume it costs bux.
Are there free versions of programs like excel? Has anyone tried this?
Thanks.

Bye.

You can try Open Office, which is basically a free, open-source alternative to Microsoft Office (which contains Excel, Word, Powerpoint, etc.). Open Office has a spreadsheet program you can use for free.

I have not actually tried it myself, although I mean to get to it soon, but it definitely has a good reputation. I've also never done any mapping with a spreadsheet, so if you need help on the best way to set it up, you will have to ask others for advice on that.

I'm using Open Office's spreadsheet to map MM1, it's working pretty well. Only thing I'm missing is a good way to map one-way secret doors. But that's a very minor thing (so far anyway).

You can get it here: http://www.openoffice.org/

I use borders on the spreadsheet to mark walls, with different colours to represent different types (especially outdoors), and I use unequal borders (two bars, one thinner than the other) to mark one-way passages. It seems to do the trick.
It's not like anyone other than me has to see them, at any rate.

Ah, tricksy! I'll have to consider that.

Ever since Oracle acquired OpenOffice, they've not been playing very nice with the open source community and the code has stagnated as a result. The code base has been forked and is once again community maintained as "LibreOffice". I recommend downloading that instead: it's the exact same, except it has been worked on and continues to be enhanced with user suggestions.
And that's not just open source fanboyism: Oracle has actually announced that they're halting work on OpenOffice entirely, so no new updates will be coming at all.

If your PC is connected to a printer, just Google "graph paper," and you'll find sites that will allow you to print your own--for free.

Coincidentally, we just got a printer. Yay.