The Illegal Keycard
The Illegal Keycard costs 200 Rolls and appears in the trade inmates' rotating stock — check every morning, buy it when it shows up, and it opens both the security room and the kitchen.
The short version
The Illegal Keycard costs 200 Rolls, appears in the rotating stock of the trade inmates, and opens the two locked doors that gate both alternate endings: the security room (janitor route) and the kitchen (rooftops route). It is not a permanent unlock — it is a per-run purchase, so every attempt at either ending starts with another 200 Rolls.
Who sells it and when
- The trade inmates — the group of prisoner NPCs who run the little shops around the cell block — rotate their stock every morning. The keycard appears in a stall for that day, then moves on.
- Check every stall each morning before you start digging. If nobody has the card today, the plan is simple: farm Rolls and check again tomorrow, or take the mineshaft exit instead.
- You cannot lift the card off the stall — the only way it is yours is buying it.
What the two doors hold
| Door | Route | What is inside |
|---|---|---|
| Security room (hall by the cafeteria) | Janitor ending | The ladder you need for the janitor-room vent, and a sleeping guard who minds his own business |
| Kitchen (left of the cafeteria) | Rooftops ending | The freezer, the frozen chef selling the crowbar, and the vent that starts the climb to the roof |
The fastest way to 200 Rolls
Two hundred Rolls is roughly two full digging sessions with early tools, less with every upgrade. The efficient order:
- Buy the shovel the moment you hit 25. Wanting the keycard does not change the maths — a faster tool farms the card faster.
- Sell on every surface trip. Rolls in the sack is Rolls not counting toward the card.
- Take every free lunch and buy cheap food in small stacks. Food is upkeep; the card is the goal.
- Skip dynamite and deep-layer gambles. Rock layers cost more energy than the extra loot returns at this stage.
- Stop at 200, spend 200. Everything over the card's price is next-run money — or, if you are heading to the roof, keep going toward the crowbar's 100.
Common questions
- Does the card carry between runs? No. Tools and the card are per-run purchases; only Diamonds and badges are account-wide.
- Can I get it cheaper? The Bargainer class takes 20% off shop prices — with it, the keycard's effective price drops to 160 Rolls, the single best class payoff in the game.
- I bought the card and died. Is it gone? Yes — the run resets with everything you bought in it. Bank the card purchase for a run you can complete the same day.
Once the card is bought, go one way or the other: janitor for the quickest clear in the game, or rooftops for the helicopter.
