Being locked in a tiny room with no lights might not be everyone's first choice of entertainment but across the globe real-life "escape rooms" have been gaining popularity.

Explained simply, participants pay to be locked in a room with a small group of friends and need to solve a series of puzzles in order to escape.

Now the concept has spread to Canberra with the opening of Riddle Room, an escape room created by Chris Krajacic and Jesse Mount in their garage at Franklin.

According to Mr Krajacic, escape rooms originated in Japan in about 2007 and quickly became an international phenomenon.

"It's sort of like a real-life computer game," he told 666 ABC Canberra.

"The first renditions were on a computer and point-and-click adventure games.

"It all comes from that sort of basis ... and now you can do it in real life, interact with real objects."

Here in Australia there are already several companies offering escape room experiences in Sydney and Melbourne.

According to escaperoomdirectory.com, a website listing escape rooms internationally, there are currently 3,012 rooms across the globe in 62 countries.

Players given an hour to escape

Riddle Room's first group of successful escapees. ( Facebook: Riddle Room )

Mr Mount said during the Riddle Room's Canberra experience, players were given 60 minutes to escape.

"There's a storyline behind the room as well and they have to find clues and then follow the clues to solve the next puzzle, which leads them to the next puzzle," Mr Mount said.

"And they all have to work as a team [and] communicate.

"It is pretty dark in there ... but you might be able to get some help with lights as you go a long the way.

There's a bit of eerie music to set the scene as well in the background."

The Riddle Room creators began their quest in June last year to bring escape rooms to Canberra after visiting another Australian-based room.

Following an unsuccessful attempt to crowd fund the project, they decided to create the room in their garage.

"So we had to think of another way to get it to Canberra. And the only we could afford was to run it out of our house in the garage," Mr Krajacic said.

"All the other escape rooms in Australia are in big city centres like Sydney and Melbourne.

"It's kind of a test run to see if it is viable [in Canberra]."

'Nice and dark and a little bit scary'

Ultimately Riddle Room would like to expand to offer a variety of rooms, each with their own story.

But for now it is limited to a single space called The Nightmare Room.

Players are asked to help rescue the patient from their recurring nightmare, by travelling into their subconscious by using a new technology.

"Some of the things include finding padlocks, finding combinations for those, using items in interesting ways," Mr Krajacic said.

"A little bit of out-of-the-box thinking, trying to get everyone back together as a group.

"It's not too claustrophobic, we don't want to make anyone feel uncomfortable.

"Some of the spaces are a little bit small but always ask you to make sure if you want to be in that space, that you're going to be ok with it.

"It fits four people comfortably ... but it is nice and dark and a little bit scary."

Mr Krajacic said Riddle Room was designed to be nerve-racking and was recommended for people 16 years of age and over.

"But if younger people feel more comfortable ... they're definitely welcome to come," he said.