Would you volunteer to be trapped in a dimly lit room with only a set of clues to help you find your way out? And, more importantly, would you pay to do it?

John Hennessy, founder of scavenger-hunt organizer Race/LA in West Hollywood, is betting the answer is yes.

Next month, he’s opening an interactive attraction in downtown Los Angeles called Escape Room L.A.

Guests will pay about $30 each to be locked in a room and have one hour to solve a series of clues in order to find a key to their freedom.

Hennessy said he got the idea earlier this year after reading about similar attractions in Budapest and New York.

“It clicked in my head that we have to do this in Los Angeles,” he said. “We’re the perfect company to do it because it’s exactly what we do, just in a different way.”

Hennessy has already leased a location in an office building in downtown’s Fashion District. The interior, designed by a theatrical set designer, is themed like a private eye’s office from the 1940s.

Twelve guests are locked in the office. The group must help solve a case to ultimately find the key to unlock the door and leave.

The case won’t change, so Hennessy said it’s a one-time experience, though he said he plans to open a second location with a different theme early next year.

Oh, and if the group can’t solve the case, Hennessy lets them out anyway.

– Subrina Hudson