13 Days to Escape Escape Plan: Day Tasks, Tools and the Night Opening

Quick answer

Spend the day on cash and tools: peel potatoes at lunch and pick up litter in the yard, then buy the Saw (110 cash) and Screwdriver (25 cash) from OJ at cell 13. Be back in your cell before the RETURN TO CELLS countdown ends, saw the window bars, and during LOCKDOWN climb out, take the free Power Drill from the workshop behind the cell block, unscrew and move the toilet, then drill into the tunnel.

Every day in 13 Days to Escape is built on the split in its own description: "Act normal by day. Plan your escape by night." Daytime is the preparation side — prison jobs pay cash, OJ's Deals sells the tools, and the objective panel tracks the next step — and the night side is the lockdown window when the cell window bars get cut, the cell gets left and the free Power Drill comes back with you. The sequence below follows that split in the order a documented Day 1 session used, from the first job at lunch to the drill going into the dirt.

The official description sketches the same loop in shorthand: work prison jobs, earn cash and buy tools from OJ's Deals; hide your tools, move the toilet and dig your way out; explore dark tunnels and uncover the prison's secrets. It also says to stay ready for roll call, avoid guards and CCTV and keep suspicion low, supports solo play or a team of up to 3 friends, and sets the mood with the STAFF ONLY door — prisoners taken behind it after lights out "don't come back the same."

Earn the cash during the day

The documented Day 1 session has two paying jobs. At lunch, the potato station works as a task chain: interact with it, drag through the peeling step and complete "Peel potatoes 5/5", earning pay each time the set finishes. In the yard during daytime, the litter job runs to "Pick up litter 8/8" and paid 20 cash on completion. The same session came back to the potatoes later and the cash counter reached 187 — that is the running total the HUD showed at that point after several jobs, not a fixed daily wage.

Because the jobs sit on the prison routine, the practical question each day is which one is open in the current phase: the potato station is a lunch activity, while litter pickup happens in the yard during daytime. The prison routine page lays out the phase order, and the prison jobs page covers the work itself; the escape-relevant point is that these are the earners the documented session used before the evening.

Data table

Data table

Job	When and where	What it pays
Peel potatoes	Lunch, at the potato station	Reach "Peel potatoes 5/5"; pay each time a set is completed
Pick up litter	Yard, during daytime	Reach "Pick up litter 8/8"; 20 cash on completion

Buy the Saw and Screwdriver from OJ

OJ is the orange-jumpsuit NPC standing at cell 13. Press E to open "OJ'S DEALS", and the shop is where both tools you have to buy come from. In the documented run the order was Saw first — bought during YARD TIME for 110 cash — and Screwdriver second, bought for 25 cash during RECREATION TIME. The purchase shows in the objective panel, which switched to "Unscrew the toilet" once the screwdriver was in hand. The tools guide covers the rest of what OJ sells.

The prices explain the order of the day: the Saw is the expensive purchase and the one that opens the night exit, so the cash earned earlier is what funds it, while the Screwdriver is cheap enough to add later in the schedule. Money does not always stretch — at a later lunch the player reached OJ without enough cash and collected cash stacks left on other inmates' beds in the cell block before trying again. Cash stacks also sit in an open prisoner transport in the vehicle area, which the player passes during LOCKDOWN.

Data table

Data table

Tool	Price	Where and when	What it does
Saw	110 cash	OJ'S DEALS at cell 13, during yard time in the documented run	Cuts the cell window bars with a "Saw bars" progress bar
Screwdriver	25 cash	OJ'S DEALS at cell 13, during recreation time in the documented run	Unscrews the bolts at the toilet base
Power Drill	Free	Workshop behind the cell block, during LOCKDOWN	Drills through the dirt walls in the tunnel

Time the bars to the RETURN TO CELLS alert

The documented run saved the Saw for the evening: earlier in the day the player walked up to the bars with it and left them untouched until the RETURN TO CELLS alert. Earlier in the day the player walked up to the cell window bars with the saw and left them untouched; the cut happened after the "RETURN TO CELLS" alert. In that window the player was back in the cell before the countdown ended, used the Saw on the bars, completed the "Saw bars" progress bar and removed them, and the cell door then locked for LOCKDOWN. The alert starts the sequence; the lock that follows is what makes the now-open window the way out.

The LOCKDOWN opening, step by step

Each stage feeds the next: the cut bars create the exit, the workshop supplies the drill, and the drill is what gets through the dirt behind the toilet. Run them in this order inside the same night window.

Checklist

• Be back in the cell before the RETURN TO CELLS countdown ends

  In the documented run the player was back inside before the countdown finished, and the cell door then locked for LOCKDOWN.

• Saw through the window bars

  Use the Saw on the bars and finish the "Saw bars" progress bar. The bars come out and the window is open.

• Climb out and cross to the workshop

  During LOCKDOWN, climb out through the cut window and sneak into the vehicle area behind the cell block. Cash stacks sit in an open prisoner transport along the way.

• Take the free Power Drill

  Find the workshop with yellow-black hazard markings; the Power Drill sits on a workbench and costs nothing.

• Unscrew and move the toilet

  Back in the cell, crouch at the toilet base, use the Screwdriver to "Unscrew" the bolts, then "Move aside" the toilet to reveal a vertical tunnel opening.

• Drill into the tunnel

  Jump in with the Power Drill and hold the left mouse button to drill through the dirt walls.

The Power Drill is free, so there is no third purchase to save for. The move the toilet page covers that step on its own, and the digging guide covers the tunnel.

Read the HUD to stay out of trouble

The screen tells you where you are in the day and how much trouble you are in:

Data table

Readout

Day, room and clock

Where it sits

Top centre

What it shows

The current day, room and time — "DAY 01 LIBRARY 01:42", "DAY 01 LOCKDOWN 03:11" — so you can place yourself in the schedule without guessing

Readout

Objective panel

Where it sits

Top right

What it shows

Always leads with "Don't get suspicious", then the current task; the switch from buying the screwdriver to unscrewing the toilet showed up here

Readout

Cash

Where it sits

Bottom left

What it shows

Your current cash total

Readout

Suspicion meter

Where it sits

Bottom centre

What it shows

Suspicion percentage; 15%, 23% and 31% showed at different points of the session

Readout

Hotbar

Where it sits

—

What it shows

Four slots showing item durability for the tools you carry, such as 202/500

Data table

Readout	Where it sits	What it shows
Day, room and clock	Top centre	The current day, room and time — "DAY 01 LIBRARY 01:42", "DAY 01 LOCKDOWN 03:11" — so you can place yourself in the schedule without guessing
Objective panel	Top right	Always leads with "Don't get suspicious", then the current task; the switch from buying the screwdriver to unscrewing the toilet showed up here
Cash	Bottom left	Your current cash total
Suspicion meter	Bottom centre	Suspicion percentage; 15%, 23% and 31% showed at different points of the session
Hotbar	—	Four slots showing item durability for the tools you carry, such as 202/500

Suspicion is the readout to respect. The official rules are the ones to follow — be ready for roll call, avoid guards and CCTV — but the material does not establish exact suspicion thresholds or everything that raises and lowers the meter, so treat the number as a warning gauge rather than a budget you can spend down. The suspicion guide collects what is known about managing it.

What the tunnel attempt leaves you with

The documented run ended the tunnel attempt on a black screen with the typewriter text "Day 2". The player woke to ROLL CALL and the library book-sorting job again, delivering #043 and similar items. The day loop carries on after the attempt, with the same roll call and library loop still in front of you on the next day. This account does not establish the tunnel's success condition, so read the sequence as the preparation and entry route rather than a guaranteed finish.

For the wider run, the full walkthrough covers the steps outside this night window, and the day night cycle page explains how the phases are structured.