13 Days to Escape Money Guide: How to Earn Cash and What to Buy at OJ's Deals
Every supported way to earn cash in 13 Days to Escape — library books, potato peeling, litter pickup, kill bounties and cash stacks — plus Saw and Screwdriver prices at OJ's Deals.
Quick answer
Work prison jobs to earn cash, then spend it at OJ's Deals on escape tools. Library books pay 10 cash each, yard litter pickup pays 20 cash, a KILL bounty pays 35 cash, and lunch potato peeling pays per completed round — OJ's stocks the Saw at 110 cash and the Screwdriver at 25 cash.
- Saw first: in the recorded run the 110-cash Saw from OJ's cut the window bars before the player climbed out to the free Power Drill and the transport's cash stacks.
- In the recorded run the Power Drill came free from the workshop workbench behind the cell block rather than from OJ, whose recorded sales were the Saw (110 cash) and the Screwdriver (25 cash).
- Free cash: stacks on inmates' beds, plus stacks inside the open prisoner transport behind the cell block during LOCKDOWN.
- Your balance shows in the bottom-left counter; a job hasn't paid until that number ticks up.
How cash works in 13 Days to Escape
Cash is the currency that funds your escape, and the game's own description spells out the loop: work prison jobs, earn cash, and buy tools from OJ's Deals. It works the same whether you play solo or team up with up to three friends.
You can watch your balance in the counter at the bottom-left of the screen. It starts at $0 and ticks up every time a job pays out — in one recorded playthrough it climbed from $0 to 187 across two days of jobs and pickups. If the counter doesn't move, the task hasn't paid yet.
Keep one eye on the objective panel in the top right as well. It always leads with "Don't get suspicious", and that rule applies while you earn too: jobs run in daytime phases around guards and CCTV, so act normal and keep your suspicion low while you work. Our suspicion guide breaks down how the meter behaves.
Ways to earn cash shown in the recorded run
These are the paying activities shown across a full recorded playthrough:
Data table
- Method
- Library book delivery
- Where and when
- Library, daytime
- What you do
- The desk guard requests numbered books (#106, #032 and #140 on the recorded day). Find each number on the shelves, press E to pick the book up, and deliver it to the desk.
- Pay
- 10 cash per book
- Method
- Potato peeling
- Where and when
- Cafeteria, LUNCH phase
- What you do
- Use the potato station and complete "Peel potatoes 5/5" with the drag gesture. It was available at lunch on both recorded days.
- Pay
- Paid per completed round
- Method
- Litter pickup
- Where and when
- Yard, daytime
- What you do
- Pick up litter around the yard until "Pick up litter 8/8" completes.
- Pay
- 20 cash
- Method
- Kill bounty
- Where and when
- Near another inmate
- What you do
- Accept the timed KILL pop-up, take the target down before the countdown ends, and loot the cash it drops.
- Pay
- 35 cash
- Method
- Cash stacks
- Where and when
- Inmates' beds in the cell block; open prisoner transport behind the cell block (LOCKDOWN in the recorded run, after sawing the window bars)
- What you do
- Grab the stacks lying around.
- Pay
- Bonus cash on top of jobs
Library book delivery — 10 cash per book
When the day takes you to the library, check the desk first: the guard there displays the numbers of the books he wants — #106, #032 and #140 on the recorded day. The shelves hold numbered copies, so find each requested number, press E to pick the book up, and carry it back to the desk. Every delivered book pays 10 cash, and since the recorded guard asked for three books, one full sweep of the shelves was worth 30 cash.
Peel potatoes at lunch
When the alert changes to LUNCH, head to the cafeteria and interact with the potato station. A "Peel potatoes 5/5" counter appears — drag to peel, and the job pays each time you complete the round. The exact per-round pay isn't shown, but the important part is repeatability: the recorded player peeled at lunch on Day 1 and again on Day 2, and the second session pushed the cash counter up to 187. If you're saving for a big purchase, lunch is the dependable slot in your daily routine.
Litter pickup — 20 cash
During yard time, litter sits scattered around the yard. Pick up pieces until the "Pick up litter 8/8" counter completes and you're paid a flat 20 cash. It's the simplest payer in the prison: no requests to check, no delivery — just clear all eight pieces.
Kill bounties — 35 cash
A "KILL" pop-up can appear near another inmate, showing a 35 cash reward and a countdown. Accept it, take the target down before the timer expires, and the dropped cash is yours to loot. In the recorded run the player took a bounty on an inmate standing with her back turned, attacked from a corner, and collected the cash she dropped. How often bounties appear isn't established, so treat one as a windfall when it shows up rather than income you can plan around.
Cash stacks around the prison
Not all money comes from work — loose cash stacks can be collected in two spots. In the cell block, stacks were left on other inmates' beds; the recorded player grabbed them at lunch on Day 2, right when a trip to OJ came up short. Stacks sat inside an open prisoner transport in the vehicle area behind the cell block, but that one is tied to the escape itself: in the recorded run the player reached it by climbing out through the cell window during LOCKDOWN, after the window bars had been sawed off. Neither spot is a guaranteed daily payday, so treat the beds and the transport as bonus sweeps whenever you pass through.
What to buy at OJ's Deals
OJ is easy to find: he's the orange-jumpsuit NPC at cell 13. Walk up and press E to browse "OJ's DEALS", his tool shop. You can browse during the daytime phases — the recorded player shopped during YARD TIME and RECREATION TIME, and came back at lunch on Day 2 (that trip failed for lack of cash, which is exactly why you should glance at your counter before walking over).
Two tools were bought here in the recorded run:
| Tool | Price | What it's for |
|---|---|---|
| Saw | 110 cash | Cutting through your cell's window bars |
| Screwdriver | 25 cash | Unscrewing the toilet to open the escape route |
The Screwdriver purchase matters beyond the tool itself: buying it updates your objectives, and the panel then lists "Buy a screwdriver from OJ", "Unscrew the toilet" and "Make your escape" — the game itself treats OJ's shop as step one of the escape chain.
The third tool wasn't bought at OJ's in the recorded run. The Power Drill sits on a workbench in the workshop behind the cell block — the area with the yellow-black hazard markings — free to take. The catch is reaching it: in the recorded run the workshop was entered by climbing out the cell window during LOCKDOWN, and that climb came after the bars had been sawed off. So even though the Drill costs nothing, the recorded run bought the 110-cash Saw before reaching it. Our tools guide covers what each tool does in detail.
A sample run: two days of earning and spending
Day 1 in the recorded playthrough went like this: library books and a kill bounty in the morning, potatoes at lunch, the 110-cash Saw at YARD TIME, a 20-cash litter sweep, then the 25-cash Screwdriver during RECREATION TIME. When the RETURN TO CELLS alert came, the player sawed the window bars off before lockdown, and during LOCKDOWN climbed out, collected the cash stacks in the open prisoner transport and picked up the free Power Drill from the workshop.
Day 2: a lunchtime trip back to OJ came up short, so the player swept the cash stacks off other inmates' beds and ran another round of potatoes, bringing the counter to 187.
That's one playthrough, not a required or optimal order — the useful part is the rhythm. Daytime jobs and pickups fund the tools, and the tools open the night's escape moves. The full walkthrough follows the whole route if you want the complete picture.
Money tips
Tips
Check your counter before you shop
Your cash shows in the bottom-left counter. The recorded player walked to OJ at lunch on Day 2 without enough cash for the next tool — glance at the number before you make the trip.
Budget 110 for the Saw first
It's the priciest of the two tools bought in the recorded run; in that run the player used it on the window bars before climbing out of the cell to the free Power Drill and to the transport's cash stacks.
Bank the steady jobs, grab the bonuses
Books, potatoes and litter pay on the daily routine; bounties and cash stacks are opportunistic extras you loot when they show up.
Stay unsuspicious while you earn
Every objective list leads with "Don't get suspicious". Jobs run in daytime phases around guards and CCTV, so work them quietly.
Related guides
Related Guides
OJ's Deals Shop
Where OJ sells tools, what each item costs, and how buying changes your current objective.
Tools: Saw, Screwdriver, Drill
What the Saw, Screwdriver and Power Drill each unlock and when to use them in the escape.
Prison Jobs and Pay
Every job task, what it pays in cash, and how to finish it without drawing attention.