49 free Alcatraz trivia questions with answers — history quiz, new questions added Aug 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 49 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01Alcatraz Island sits in the bay of which US city?
San Francisco
It lies just offshore near the Golden Gate, and cold water plus strong currents made swimming away nearly impossible.
Q 02What is the prison's famous nickname?
The Rock
The name comes from Spanish alcatraz, meaning gannet, though it is popularly taken to mean pelican.
Q 03What does the Spanish word 'alcatraz' mean in the island's name?
Gannet or pelican
Explorer Juan Manuel de Ayala first applied the name in 1775 to nearby Yerba Buena Island; it migrated to the Rock later.
Q 04In which year did Alcatraz open as a federal penitentiary?
1934
The Army had used the island for over 80 years; the Justice Department took the disciplinary barracks in October 1933.
Q 05In which year did the federal prison close?
1963
Structural decay, sky-high running costs and the embarrassing 1962 escape all contributed.
Q 06How far is Alcatraz from the shore of the city it faces?
About 1.25 miles
The bay's currents and cold water, not the distance, were what made escape so deadly.
Q 07Which Chicago gangster was among Alcatraz's most famous inmates and played banjo in its prison band?
Al Capone
The band was called the Rock Islanders and played Sunday concerts; Capone's syphilis was steadily eroding his mind by then.
Q 08Robert Stroud, the 'Birdman of Alcatraz', actually kept his birds at which other prison?
Leavenworth
Alcatraz banned his canaries; he spent 17 years there, mostly in segregation and the hospital wing.
Q 09How much notice was the Birdman reportedly given before being moved from Kansas to Alcatraz in 1942?
10 minutes
His birds and lab equipment were shipped to his brother because Alcatraz would not let him keep them.
Q 10Which gangster served more time at Alcatraz than any other inmate?
Alvin Karpis
Karpis was there from 1936 to 1962, and was the only FBI 'Public Enemy #1' ever taken alive.
Q 11What nickname did fellow Alcatraz inmates give gangster George Barnes for his tall fish stories?
Pop Gun Kelly
He had earned $200,000 kidnapping oil tycoon Charles Urschel in 1933 and spent his last 21 years in prison.
Q 12How many escape attempts were made during Alcatraz's 29 years as a federal prison?
14
36 men tried; 23 were caught, six were shot, two drowned and five are still 'missing and presumed drowned'.
Q 13The 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 21The 1946 'Battle of Alcatraz' ended when which force stormed the cellhouse?
The US Marines
Six inmates seized the weapons room; three died, and two more were later executed at San Quentin.
Q 22Alcatraz's corridors were nicknamed after famous streets. What was the main one called?
Broadway
Others were Michigan Avenue, Park Avenue and, in D-Block, Sunset Strip.
Q 23What were the six isolation cells at the end of D-Block known as?
The Hole
Inmates were stripped and locked in the dark, usually for 3 to 19 days.
Q 14What did the 1962 escapees leave in their beds to fool the guards?
Papier-mâché heads with real hair
The hair was stolen from the barbershop; the escape wasn't noticed until a dummy head fell on the floor at 7 a.m.
Q 15What did the 1962 escapees build their raft from?
Over 50 stolen raincoats
They assembled it on top of the cell block behind sheets, then left through a roof vent.
Q 16What did the escapees use to power a homemade drill for widening their cell vents?
A vacuum cleaner motor
Accordions played during music hour covered the noise; a spoon soldered with silver from a dime served as a chisel.
Q 17Which fourth conspirator was left behind in 1962 because his fake wall had set in cement?
Allen West
He chipped through too late, then told the FBI the plan had been to paddle to Angel Island.
Q 18What did the FBI officially conclude in 1979 about the fate of the 1962 escapees?
They likely drowned in the bay
The Marshals Service still lists them as wanted until September 2026, and theories about their survival keep surfacing.
Q 19Who played escape ringleader Frank Morris in the 1979 film Escape from Alcatraz?
Clint Eastwood
It was the fifth and last film Eastwood made with director Don Siegel, after Dirty Harry.
Q 20Which 1996 Michael Bay film has Sean Connery and Nicolas Cage breaking INTO Alcatraz?
The Rock
Connery plays a former SAS captain; the film earned over $335 million and an Oscar nomination for sound.
Q 24Roughly how big was a standard Alcatraz cell?
9 by 5 feet
Cells were deliberately built so none touched an outside wall.
Q 25How many prisoners in total passed through Alcatraz as a federal penitentiary?
1,576
Some sources say 1,557; the population on the first anniversary in 1935 was just 242.
Q 26How many prisoners arrived in the first group from Kansas on 11 August 1934?
137
They travelled by rail under the guard of some 60 FBI agents, marshals and railway police.
Q 27Which surprising fact was true of the food at Alcatraz?
Many inmates said it was better than at other prisons
Some inmates even volunteered to transfer to the Rock, despite its 'Hellcatraz' reputation.
Q 28Roughly how many books did the average Alcatraz prisoner read per year?
75 to 100
Newspapers were banned and crime pages torn out of magazines, but every inmate got a library card on arrival.
Q 29Why did huge quantities of drinking water have to be barged to Alcatraz every week?
The island has no natural spring
Nearly a million gallons a week were barged in, one reason the prison cost about $10 per inmate per day versus $3 in Atlanta.
Q 30Who was the first warden of Alcatraz?
James A. Johnston
He and his deputy were called 'iron men'; four wardens lived in the 15-room mansion beside the lighthouse.