Code

“Oh, uh, so I don't forget the code, it's…”

― Bert Unger

Throughout Rapture, the player will come across doors (and one safe) with 4-digit access Codes required to gain entrance. The codes are usually found nearby or shortly after the lock via audio diaries, written notes, and scribbled messages. Many of the locks in BioShock can be hacked or bought out, but it is almost never required. In BioShock 2, hacking combination locks is not an option. Two locks can also be found in Columbia during Burial at Sea - Episode 2.

BioShock Door Access Codes

A Rapturian Keypad in BioShock.

Area	Code	Location	Hackable	Buyout Price	Rewards
Medical Pavilion, Twilight Fields Funeral Homes	0451	Twilight Fields, next to a coffin.	No	Can't Buyout	EVE Hypo, Automatic Hack Tool, 00 Buck and Standard Auto Rounds.
Neptune's Bounty, Lower Wharf	5380	AD: Picked Up Timmy H.	Yes	$58	First Aid Kit and ammunition.
Neptune's Bounty, The Fighting McDonagh's Tavern	7533	AD: Masha Come Home.	Yes	$58	Money, access to the Shorten Alarms Gene Tonic after listening to the audio diary Saw Masha Today.
Arcadia, Langford Research Laboratories	9457	Death scribbling on the window by Julie Langford.	No	Can't Buyout	A quest item, access to Farmer's Market and money.
Farmer's Market, The Main Market	0512	AD: Market Maintenance Code.	Yes	$251	Money, First Aid Kit, invention components and ammunition.
Fort Frolic, Robertson's Tobaccoria	7774	Le Marquis D'Epoque, a note on the floor.	Yes	$251	Money and Electric Buck or antipersonnel Pistol Rounds.
Hephaestus, Workshops	0126	AD: Kyburz Door Code; various calendars and posters with Australia Day marked.	Yes	$251	A quest item, access to a Power to the People station, invention components and ammunition.
Olympus Heights, Mercury Suites	5744	AD: Fontaine's Breakup.	No	Can't Buyout	Access to Fontaine's apartment.
Point Prometheus, Failsafe Armored Escorts	1921	AD: Extra Munitions.	Yes	Can't Buyout	3 EVE Hypos, invention components, and rare ammunition (the player can enter the related room without using the code or hacking the lock).

Challenge Rooms Door Access Codes

Area	Code	Location	Rewards
Rapture's Grand Carnival, Stalls	1951	Advertisement for Zimmermann Chardonnay.	Turning the switch to activate the Ferris wheel.

BioShock 2 Door Access Codes

A more decayed keypad in BioShock 2.

Area	Code	Location	Rewards
Adonis Luxury Resort, Plasmid Therapy	1540	On the door of the sauna room.	Money, Drill Fuel, and the audio diary Fitness.
Pauper's Drop, Fontaine Clinics	0047	On a newspaper in the Fishbowl Diner.	The door must be opened in order to progress.
Siren Alley, Plaza Hedone	1919	AD: The Date is the Code.	The door must be opened in order to progress.
Dionysus Park, Basement Storage	1080	AD: A Gift from Billy.	Access to a Power to the People station.
Fontaine Futuristics, Plasmid Theater	5254	On the wall by a tied corpse in the Plasmid Showroom.	Careful Hacker 2, money, bandages and ammunition.
Inner Persephone, Holding Wing	2673	ADs: First Two Digits, Last Two Digits, wall scrawling near a toilet tank in the Holding Wing.	The door must be opened (using the code or not) in order to progress.
Inner Persephone, Therapy Wing	4146	AD: Legs, Mouths, Arms, and Eyes, Recreational therapy room wall.	First Aid Kit, EVE Hypo, money, and rare ammunition.

Minerva's Den Door Access Codes

Area	Code	Location	Rewards
Operations, Programming	2341	AD: The Books are the Code, Bookshelf in Reed Wahl's office.	Safe (containing money, Shells, and Mini-Turrets), access to the Master Input Console (to hack the beacon).

Burial at Sea Door Access Codes

Example keypad in Burial at Sea - Episode 1.

Area	Code	Location	Rewards
High Street, The Watched Clock Plaza	2076	AD: The Goddamn People.	The audio diary Offer of Employment and money.
Fontaine's Department Store, Ladieswear	0928	AD: Message in a Bottle.	The Gear Quick-Handed, the audio diary Insufficient Postage, money, and a Lockpick.
Housewares, The Bistro at Fontaine's	3958	AD: Oven of the Future.	Radar Range, Radar Range Ammo and a Medical Kit.
Housewares, Silver Fin Restaurant	1216	Radio message by Yi Suchong.	Access to the Bathyspheres DeLuxe.
Housewares, Service Bay	7951	AD: Hooligans.	Access to the controls for the lift, Radar Range, Possess Turret Mod.
Factory, Fink MFG Research Laboratories	8371	VP: Necessary Precautions.	Ironsides Salts Mod.
Factory, Surgical Suite.	2847	VP: Childish Fears.	Ironsides Health Mod.

Behind the Scenes

• It is possible to open keypad locks even if the player has not yet listened to the audio diaries containing the correlating codes.
• The first door access code in the Medical Pavilion is a reference to System Shock's first keypad access combination, which is 451. This is a motif that appears in other games such as System Shock 2 (45100), BioShock 2 (1540), BioShock Infinite, and the Deus Ex franchise. The first combination in BioShock 2 in the Adonis Luxury Resort is 451 backwards (1540). The number was originally believed to be a reference to Ray Bradbury's book Fahrenheit 451, but was later revealed to be the entry code to LookingGlass Technologies (later: Looking Glass Studios) offices and just a coincidence.