How to Get the Machinery Key in Escape from Tarkov

The Machinery Key is a mandatory key to acquire in Escape from Tarkov. It is needed to complete the Background Check task, which unlocks several other tasks in the game. Most players prioritize these tasks so they can unlock other tasks that lead them to their favorite maps, like Interchange, Shoreline, or Streets of Tarkov. Here’s how you can get the Machinery Key and finish the Background Check task in Escape from Tarkov.

Where to Get the Machinery Key in Escape from Tarkov

The Machinery Key can spawn inside any jacket, but there’s also a guaranteed spawn in Customs. Since this key is only needed for the Background Check task, you can get the Machinery Key, go to the truck, use the key, pick up the Bronze Pocketwatch, and survive and extract with it in one raid.

The guaranteed Machinery Key spawn is in the three-floor dorms building in room 205. Jump up the small barricade and get inside the room. Look for the two jackets next to the cabinet. Both jackets actually have the Machinery Keys, but Battlestate Games may change the quantity of these at times, but you will surely get one.

If the key isn’t there, another player has probably looted it, and you should be careful. If someone else takes it, you can expect them to open the truck in the construction area so you can still finish the Background Check task.

Bronze Pocketwatch Location in Escape from Tarkov

The Machinery Key is used to open the door to the fuel tank parked near the Crackhouse and construction area. Open the door, and the Bronze Pocketwatch will be on the floor (next to the pedals). You have to jump on top of the box, which makes you open to enemy players in the area.

If the map has a lot of PMCs, you can try to run it at night so there are fewer PMCs. There could be Cultists, but you can take that risk because they spawn less frequently anyway.

Finishing the Background Check task will lead to more tasks, such as Delivery from the Past. You can finish the Delivery from the Past alongside other Factory quests like Walls Have Eyes, Claustrophobia, and Exit Here.