After a group of four friends and coworkers went to an escape room in the Greater Houston area last fall, the idea for The Lock-Houston was born.

“All of us had an interest in investing in companies and a cool idea,” co-owner Zac Clift said. “We went to an [escape room] last September as a fun teambuilding activity, and when we left, we couldn’t stop talking about the idea and how we could make it better.”

Clift and co-owners Gang Chen, Erik Rodriguez and Majid Salaar opened The Lock-Houston in Oak Ridge North in January to provide an alternative entertainment option for people of all ages in the community.

“In some ways, it’s like an interactive video game,” Clift said. “You are involved in whatever you’re doing—you’re not just behind a screen. I think people like the challenge and adventure.”

The Lock-Houston features three different concepts, each loosely based on a movie. The Shenandoah Redemption concept is a take on “The Shawshank Redemption,” in which groups are locked in two cells and must use teamwork to escape.

“Once you escape, it’s not really over because you have to escape the prison as well,” Clift said. “There are a few things that make us unique as an escape room, but one is that we use multirooms. Every single concept of ours has more than one room.”

The second concept is Ocean’s Royale and is a play on the “Ocean’s Eleven” series and “Casino Royale.” The room requires participants to escape a high rollers room using clues they could find in a casino.

The final concept is Presidential Treasure—based on “National Treasure” and brings groups into a representation of Abraham Lincoln’s preserved oval office.

“You have to use historical knowledge and things in the room to not only escape, but also provide proof that [assassin] John Wilkes Booth killed Abraham Lincoln,” Clift said.

Groups have one hour to escape. If they run out of time, the owners will come in and show players the clues they missed and talk about highlights. Although about 50 percent of groups have escaped the prison concept and 35 percent have escaped the casino, no one has escaped the presidential concept yet.

“Normally, if we had been open this long and no one had escaped I would be worried it probably isn’t fun, but people love the presidential room and how difficult it is,” Clift said. “There’s a lot of things going on in there so it makes the 60 minutes go by really fast.”

At least two people are needed to sign up for one of the escape room concepts, which can hold up to 10 people. Clift said there has been a good mix of corporate groups, adults and families that have visited the entertainment facility so far.

“Some escape rooms may be [geared toward] adults with their themes, and I think here adults still have a great time, but kids can have just as great of a time,” he said. “I don’t think we’ve had a group that’s been unsatisfied yet.”