Alcatraz Trivia
0Loading crowd target
0Loading crowd target
6correct to beat the crowd
42 free Alcatraz trivia questions with answers — history quiz, new questions added Sep 2026.
45 free Alcatraz trivia questions with answers. Alcatraz held some of America's most notorious criminals for 29 years, and its legend has only grown since. This quiz covers the whole story in forty-five questions: the Spanish name, the Civil War fort, the 1934 conversion to an 'escape-proof' federal prison, Al Capone's banjo, the Birdman who never kept birds there, the 1946 Battle of Alcatraz, the papier-mâché heads of the 1962 escape, the Native American occupation of 1969 and today's 1.4 million annual visitors. Easy questions ask which city it faces and which Clint Eastwood film retold the escape; hard ones want the first warden's name, the number of escape attempts, the size of a cell and the two men who vanished in 1937. Made for history buffs, true-crime fans and anyone planning a trip to Pier 33. Every answer was checked against Wikipedia's articles on the island, the penitentiary, the escapes and the inmates, and each question shows the sentence that backs it up.
30 of 42 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01Alcatraz Island sits in the bay of which US city?
San Francisco
San Francisco: officials thought the bay's cold water and strong currents made the prison escape-proof.
Q 02What is Alcatraz prison's famous nickname?
The Rock
The Rock: it was set up to hold the most troublesome inmates of other federal prisons under one roof.
Q 03Which bird is the name Alcatraz usually said to mean?
Pelican
Pelican: that is the usual reading, though in modern Spanish the word alcatraz actually names the gannet.
Q 04Which government department took Alcatraz over from the Army in 1933?
Justice
Justice: it wanted to show the public that the government was serious about stopping the crime wave of the 1920s and 1930s.
Q 05Roughly how far is Alcatraz from the mainland shore?
About 1.25 miles
About 1.25 miles: the 1962 escapees set out into the bay on a homemade raft, and they were never seen again.
Q 06Which Chicago gangster was among Alcatraz's most famous inmates and played banjo in its prison band?
Al Capone
Al Capone: in 1936 another inmate stabbed him, though he escaped with only superficial wounds.
Q 07Robert Stroud, the 'Birdman of Alcatraz', actually kept his birds at which other prison?
Leavenworth
Stroud bred and studied canaries at Leavenworth, Kansas, for decades; Alcatraz banned the birds, and he spent his 17 years on the island mostly in segregation and the hospital wing.
Q 08Which actor played Robert Stroud in the 1962 film Birdman of Alcatraz?
Burt Lancaster
Burt Lancaster played Stroud in John Frankenheimer's Birdman of Alcatraz (1962) and received a Best Actor Oscar nomination for the role.
Q 09Which Alcatraz inmate's 1936 arrest did FBI director Hoover fly to New Orleans to lead?
Alvin Karpis
Alvin Karpis: no agent had brought handcuffs, so his hands were tied with an agent's necktie.
Q 10How many escape attempts were made during Alcatraz's 29 years as a federal prison?
14
14: yet officially, not one of the men who tried ever succeeded in escaping.
Q 11The three men in the famous June 1962 Alcatraz escape were Frank Morris and two brothers from which family?
The Anglins
John and Clarence Anglin, bank robbers from Georgia, remain on the US Marshals' wanted list.
Q 12In the 1962 Alcatraz escape, what did the fugitives leave in their beds to fool the guards?
Papier-mâché heads with real hair
Papier-mâché heads with real hair: the hair had been gathered from the prison barbershop.
Q 13What did the 1962 escapees build their raft from?
Over 50 stolen raincoats
Q 21In August 1934, which federal penitentiary sent Alcatraz the batch of prisoners that included its most famous gangster?
Atlanta
Atlanta: moving problem inmates to Alcatraz eased the strain on older, overcrowded prisons like it.
Q 22By many inmates' accounts, what was the food at Alcatraz like?
Better than most prisons
Better than most prisons: some inmates even asked to be transferred to Alcatraz.
Q 23Why did huge quantities of drinking water have to be barged to Alcatraz every week?
The island has no natural spring
Over 50 stolen raincoats: they built the raft in a hidden workshop on top of the cellblock, then left through a roof vent.
Q 14What did the escapees use to power a homemade drill for widening their cell vents?
A vacuum cleaner motor
A vacuum cleaner motor: the noise of the digging was masked by accordion playing during the prison's music hour.
Q 15Which fourth 1962 Alcatraz conspirator was left behind after cement around a vent set too hard?
Allen West
Allen West: by the time he chipped his way out, the others had gone, and guards found him in his cell the next morning.
Q 16Who played escape ringleader Frank Morris in the 1979 film Escape from Alcatraz?
Clint Eastwood
Clint Eastwood: the film was shot on Alcatraz itself, inside the prison that had been closed since 1963.
Q 17Which armed force helped guards retake the cellhouse in the 1946 'Battle of Alcatraz'?
The US Marines
The US Marines: three inmates died in the fighting, and two more were later executed at San Quentin for their part.
Q 18What was the main corridor of the Alcatraz cellhouse, named after a famous street, called?
Broadway
The main corridor between B and C blocks was Broadway; others were Michigan Avenue, Park Avenue and, in D-Block, Sunset Strip, with Times Square at Broadway's end.
Q 19What name did the protesters who occupied Alcatraz from 1969 to 1971 adopt for their group?
Indians of All Tribes
Indians of All Tribes: in 1971 federal officers finally removed the last 15 occupiers from the island.
Q 20Roughly how many men passed through Alcatraz in its 29 years as a federal prison?
1,500
1,500: most of them were not famous gangsters but men who had refused to follow the rules at other prisons.
The island has no natural spring: so during the 1969-71 occupation, officials pressured the protesters by cutting off their water supply.
Q 24Who was the first warden of Alcatraz?
James A. Johnston
James A. Johnston: under his rules, inmates were not allowed to talk while standing in line, from cell to cell, or while eating.
Q 25What did Alcatraz gain in 1854, a first on the West Coast?
A lighthouse
A lighthouse: it was guiding ships into the bay years before the island held its first prisoners.
Q 26Before it held federal convicts, what did the Army use the island for during the Civil War?
A fort and military jail
A fort and military jail: its guns were never fired at an enemy, but it held Confederate sympathizers and privateers.
Q 27Which 1868 treaty did the 1969 occupiers of Alcatraz cite to claim the island?
The Treaty of Fort Laramie
The Treaty of Fort Laramie: they read it as promising that abandoned federal land would return to Native peoples.
Q 28Which Mohawk activist led the 1969 landing that began the occupation of Alcatraz?
Richard Oakes
Richard Oakes: a college student, he left the island in January 1970 after his daughter Yvonne died in a fall there.
Q 29As of 2025, which agency had run Alcatraz since 1972?
The National Park Service
The National Park Service: under its care, the island has once again become a sanctuary for nesting seabirds.
Q 30Alcatraz was nicknamed 'America's' version of which notorious island prison?
Devil's Island
Devil's Island: officials wanted a remote site that would cut prisoners off from contact with the outside world.