A keycard can be used to open locked doors, allowing criminals to rob the bank. Prisoners and criminals can get a keycard by pickpocketing police, or from a drop from killing police. A player loses their keycard when they are arrested or killed. A keycard can also open the gate that is normally opened by punching the power box, but you can press the red button behind the gate to open it.
The keycard is a major mechanic that the game revolves around. If you don't have a keycard, you cannot rob the Bank the normal way. But there are lots of other places you can rob that don't require a keycard (Museum, Jewelry Store, Gas Station, Donut Shop and Train).
NOTE: Don't worry about getting a keycard as a prisoner. When you're out of Prison as a criminal, you'll naturally see cops and if one is killed, you have a chance of getting a keycard without much delay.
Backstory
What are Police without these items? Keycards are used to open locked doors where Prisoners and Criminals can't access to. Criminals or Prisoners usually have to go through quite the journey just to get at least one of these things for their own use. However, police are alerted when they realize their keycard (or their pistol and/or donut) got stolen so they chase after the prisoner.
The creators asimo3089 and badcc realized it was "unfair" for the only way to get the keycard was to pickpocket a police officer, so they allowed keycards to be a random drop when a police officer died. This did help the function of the Jailbreak universe to be more realistic and balanced.
VIP Server Method
The VIP Server Method is a way to get the keycard while in a VIP Server with friends or alternate accounts.
- Be a criminal or a prisoner and then ask your friend for a keycard.
- Pickpocket your friend.
This is very easy to pull off unless your friend isn't willing to.
Escaping A Police Pursuit Method
The majority of the time, police will chase after you if you pickpocket their keycard or pistol. But you can escape a pursuit by one of these methods:
Cells
If it happens in the cells area, run around the corner, and once you get around the corner, get in a cell. The cop will usually become confused and just give up. You can also hide the keycard in the shelf if you are worried they will catch you. Then you can get guns and escape.
Cafeteria
If it happens near the courtyard or in the prison hallway, get to the kitchen door, and get in the vent quickly. Then either get guns and/or escape.
Telephone Room
Although still not quite as good a hiding place as the cafeteria, if you are facing a large group of cops or experienced Jailbreak players, dashing into the phone booths and crouching can often hide you, as most people will believe that you ran into the cafeteria or the cells or anywhere else.
Yard/Courtyard/Outside
This method has a large risk vs reward scenario in play here. Pickpocket the cop's keycard, then quickly hightail it and rapidly jump. Move about to prevent you from getting tased, which obviously ruins this method (or any method in general). Make your way to the yard and jump onto the trampoline. The cop should follow you and jump on the trampoline as well. Ever now and then jump off so the cop can't arrest you in midair, and since there will usually be lots of prisoners trying to steal a keycard, the cop will get confused. Slip out of the chaos and make your way to one of the doors.
Don't attempt any of these techniques if a cop can see you or is chasing very closely.
Criminal Method
What's the point of pickpocketing if you can just kill to get a keycard? For this method, the player will be doing a simple risk-and-reward method.
- Escape the prison using the multiple ways there are out. See Escaping if you need help on how to escape.
- Obtain weapons (via a Criminal Base or Gun Shop).
- Go back to the Prison, get in any way you possibly can. This can be done via the ramp out front, for example.
- Stand in the Yard, and make sure you're very obvious to cops. Try not to attract too much attention, but enough to get one in the Yard.
- Kill him/her. If you do not get a keycard out of such, wait for another one to come or for the same one to come back.
Trivia
- Cops have infinite keycards, so you don't have to worry if they get pickpocketed.
- Before a few updates, the keycard used to only be available to Prisoners and Criminals by pickpocketing.
- Before an update, a keycard used to be found in safes. That means that the keycard will have little or no value if you get a keycard from a safe if you are a cop.
- Back then when there was only a bank to rob, the keycard was essential to make money. But now the keycard has less value because you can rob the Museum, Jewelry Store, small stores (Gas Station, Donut Shop), and the train without a keycard. Of course, the keycard is still considered extremely useful valuable due to it unlocking the bank and the police offices, also allowing you to get the helicopter.
- Sometimes cops will trick you and pretend to be nice and let you have their keycard, then arrest you for money. A good technique to turn the tables on the cops is to gather multiple prisoners and swarm the cop. The cop can arrest one or two prisoners, but those can be broken out, and in all the chaos, several prisoners can usually escape or get guns. An important aspect for this is teamwork.
- If you get arrested and you get broken out, you will still lose your keycard. The same applies to all items.
- As of most recent updates, you can not farm alone anymore because cops won't drop keycards if they reset or get killed by the electric fence.
- Cops can actually pick up the keycard but it doesn't do anything since the cops have infinite keycards.
- The keycard used to be completely blue. This was changed a few hours after Jailbreak's release.