Interactive escape room opens its doors in Pocatello

A new business recently opened its doors in Pocatello. The business is called “13 Locks Escape Rooms.”

“13 Locks” is a real-life, interactive game of clues. It’s not a panic room or a haunted house – it’s all about solving puzzles.

There’s a storyline that groups follow when they go through. The storyline is to stop a deranged scientist from blowing up his lab. Your mission is to save yourselves by diffusing the bomb and escaping the room.

The escape room is done in teams of about four to eight people. Teams have one hour to escape. To do so, teams need to find hidden objects and solve puzzles and clues.

Keith Roice, one of the co-partners of “13 Locks,” said anyone can do this – families, friends, business groups, anyone.

He said the reason behind opening it was to bring something different to Pocatello, something the whole family can enjoy.

Shona Laxton, another co-partner, said they wanted to bring something to Pocatello that was really interactive and personal. She said the real challenge behind it is teamwork rather than using technology.

“That’s where we’re going with our internet society,” Laxton said. “We turn to our phones for those answers when they’re right there with us the whole time and so this is experience is so teambuilding. And in Pocatello we need more of that, to where people are interacting as humans and they’re leaving all of that behind.”

“13 Locks” opened Nov. 1 and the partners said they’re already working on adding more rooms and more stuff to it, which they hope to have done very soon.

It’s located at 701 S. 1st Ave. Right now, the hours are Monday through Friday from noon until 10 p.m. and weekends from 11 a.m. until 11 p.m.

For right now, the cost is about $17 per person. There are some discounts available such as ISU students and veterans. More information can be found on the company’s Facebook page.