SOUTH LAKE TAHOE — Zombies, mobsters and a snowbound cabin now inhabit a former chiropractic office on Sandy Way.

Trapped in Tahoe is an escape-room experience that encourages people to decipher a series of riddles to figure out how to escape from one of three themed rooms in under an hour. One room is zombie-infested, one has an organized-crime slant and the third envisions an escape from an avalanche-bound cabin.

“You have tasks in each room that you have to complete and find a key to escape,” said Jessica Brambila, who opened the business with her husband Mike Brambila in May.

“It’s something that Tahoe hasn’t seen before,” Mike said.

Escape rooms as entertainment are a relatively new concept. The idea started in Japan and came to the U.S. in 2012, according to an article on http://www.marketwatch.com. There are now an estimated 3,900 escape rooms in the world.

Critical thinking and a keen awareness of the sometimes subtle clues in Trapped in Tahoe’s rooms are important to escape in time, but there’s no one way to approach the puzzles presented.

“Everybody sees something different,” Jessica said, running through some of the varied interpretations she’s seen of clues in the zombie room.

Pomona, California, residents Victor Moreno and Moritz Beuther (along with this Tribune reporter) tried out the zombie room Thursday, June 15, analyzing hints while trying to avoid getting infected by the room’s resident walking dead, played menacingly by South Shore resident Noah Sorensen. Although we sweated through a series of riddles, tore apart the room in search of answers and learned of the wide variety of combination locks available in today’s market, ultimately we were unsuccessful in getting through all of the tasks and were “trapped forever,” left to question where we went wrong. Thankfully, Trapped in Tahoe walks “trapped forever” guests through the remaining tasks so they still get a taste of the full experience.

While the zombie room is on the scarier side of the spectrum, Trapped in Tahoe offers experiences for all ages.

“It’s something families can do together,” Jessica said, adding that Trapped in Tahoe also caters to businesses looking for team-building exercises.

“We try and make it entertaining,” Jessica said. “We have a higher success rate because we want you to have a good time.”

The couple plans to do specially themed rooms for holidays, including a Christmas room where participants help Santa Claus fix his toy machine.

The business is designed to be fun, and that includes for serial entrepreneurs Mike and Jessica.

“It’s a blast,” Mike said of leading people through the experiences.

Each entrapment costs $30 per person. Coupons and local discounts are also available.

Trapped in Tahoe is located at 3320 Sandy Way in South Lake Tahoe.

More information is available at http://www.trappedintahoe.com.