Puzzle Effect Escape Rooms - San Luis Obispo — Attraction in San Luis Obispo

My wife and I visited over the Labor Day weekend and ended up doing The Reel, Grim Stacks, and Curse on the Emerald Sea across multiple days. We're escape room fiends and have done over 100 rooms each so when I say that Puzzle Effect is a nice, clean, and overall really solid experience I know what I'm talking about. We interacted with Izzy, Sherman, Brady, and Sydney across our experiences, and everyone was incredibly helpful and wonderful. The rooms are put together well and offer a solid challenge (the two of us were able to complete each of them in just shy of 40 minutes) and the puzzles and design are well thought out. We did The Reel first, which we were ultimately satisfied with though there were a few elements to the design that I find slightly problematic (it’s not ideal to have necessary information to solve a puzzle go away and require a re-solve of a previous puzzle to trigger again). Next was Grim Stacks which we liked much more overall and which was more of a technically oriented room albeit in a subtle way. The final puzzle ended up being very satisfying to piece together and it proved to be a delightful room. Finally, was Curse of the Emerald Seas which we thought overall was the best in regards to puzzles (also it probably has the most overall and are some of the trickiest). It’s a really great room, was very satisfying to play with lots to work on and was a wonderful end to our adventures at Puzzle Effect. Would (and already have) wholly recommend this location to those either new or experienced with escape rooms when they...

My group and I loved this place! We played their medium-difficulty room, Grim Stacks, which was so cute and super engaging. They were flexible about booking, too. I adored the supernatural bookstore/oddity shop vibe of the room, and found all the puzzles pretty fun. There were definitely a few moments where we had to stop and really think things through. I'm sure with fewer people it would have been even more challenging (we had a larger group, so there were pretty constant ideas and suggestions and fixes). At the end, we weren't quite sure if we'd solved it or not, because the lighting cues didn't trigger—our super friendly Game Master Damion came to get us and explained that it didn't work right because we'd outpaced the system and set a new speed record for that room! I don't know if Damion tells all the groups they're puzzle speed champions, but I do know it totally made our night. We wanted to do another room right then (and would have if it wasn't too late to book another one). It was a super fun way to spend the evening, with cooperation and lots of a-ha! moments. I would definitely recommend Puzzle Effect; I've tried a couple of escape rooms, and this one had the best lore and narrative and immersion by far. Also, you can take videos and photos inside the room—how cool is that? If there was one thing we could have used, I think maybe providing notepads or something to help with solving would be nice (they let me bring in my own notebook, though, so we didn't actually need one!). Thanks to Damion for an...

Had a great time with friends doing Grimm Stacks and then the Emerald Curse the next day. Both had enough challenge to create some real tension as to whether we would solve it but were enjoyable to puzzle out and the hints came at the right pace, allowing us to struggle through without getting frustrated (we mostly just needed to breathe and read the clues more closely but the timer gets to you 🤣). Syd and Brady were friendly and fun to interact with.

This was a first time for all of us and definitely made us want to try more escape rooms.

As a note 2/4 of our party have mobility issues and we were able to fully participate. There is a part of Grimm Stacks where someone might need to exit the room and re-enter at a different point if they are using a mobility device but that shouldn’t be a problem, just let the employee working with your group know if this might be a need you have. I am below 5 feet tall and accessing some items in Grimm Stacks would have been a challenge if our whole group was short but overall most items are accessible. The doors are not locked and you can leave at anytime as well as bring a bag in so if you have medical needs/require access to the bathroom this is not an issue. The Emerald curse room has fewer barriers to moving around. There is one part of the room that is on a very small lip (about one inch) and might be hard to fully access if you are in a wheelchair and have shorter arms but overall I think would be a good room if you have a mobility impairment as you can easily...