Rexburg attraction dares you to escape

REXBURG – A new local attraction will let anyone in, but it won’t let everyone out.

The eerie Escape House holds three separate rooms covered in riddles, puzzles and clues. Teams have one hour to solve all of the clues to make their escape.

David Johanson has been through the Escape House several times and keeps coming back to solve different rooms.

“It was a ton of fun,” Johanson said. “It was really tough. It was really hard. You have to think about things really mathematically and logically in order to get through.”

Logan Mickelsen, general manager of the Escape House, said owners were inspired to make the year-round haunt after attending a business convention.

They saw an escape room and decided to make their own at the hotel where they were staying. After deciding they could devise challenging but solvable puzzles, they moved forward with the Escape House.

Mickelsen says The Escape House has been in Rexburg less than a year.

“That first experience in that little booth has become now three bedrooms and a future city escape,” Mickelsen said. Managers have not released details on what the city escape will entail.

In the current setup, Mickelsen said, each room is designed for a series of plots. One plot must be solved before moving to the next.

“You have to achieve one plot, which leads to another plot then another one maybe four or five, then you have the finale. For example that first room, Michael’s room, you deactivate the bomb at the very end,” Mickelsen said.

Most groups don’t make it out on by themselves. Game monitors notify the groups that they are being watched on surveillance cameras. When they get stuck on a clue, a notification appears on the iPad in the room.

“We can tell when people are stumped. It’s funny what people do when they’re stumped, so we’ll send them a clue to get their mind back on track,” Mickelsen said.

Game monitors do all they can without heavily interfering to help players beat the game. If a team still loses, they’re walked through the puzzles to see what they missed.

“Everyone just kind of leaves with an ‘Ah! This was so cool. When can I do the next room? How did you do that?’” Mickelsen said.

Mickelsen said the goal of the Escape House is to bring families and friends closer together.

“You’re going to leave here getting along with each other better, building relationships. It’s a great team-building activity,” Mickelsen said.

To book a room at the Escape House, go to its website, or visit its Facebook page.