The Reel

I usually enjoy Puzzle Effects, though this was not my fave room. It's extremely linear, which would have been more fun in a smaller group, but with 4+ people there's a decent amount of standing around since multiple puzzles can't be worked on simultaneously. I also *usually* enjoy the immersive clueing, such that the clues are triggered on a screen after a certain amount of unsuccessful time. The clues, however, are scripted and did not help us. When we asked for clarification from a game master, there wasn't anyone watching to provide assistance so we brute-forced it. The use of AI at Puzzle Effects is also getting distracting - nearly all imagery and videos are AI-constructed and it takes away from the human-constructed cleverness of many puzzles. Overall, would *probably* return to Puzzle Effects but would not recommend this room.

We felt this room was pretty dated, with some components needing replacement. It's very linear and simple, I'd say ok for kids but because a major lockbox was broken and one of the keys fit better into a different lock than it was intended for there will probably be some confusion. It's very lock and key.

With a group of 2, we only really got stuck on one puzzle (that we 100% over-thought). Definitely some stuff that was more familiar to us old people. 🤣 Fun room with a good amount of puzzles that required true teamwork!!

Good idea but poor execution. We ran into a couple puzzles that were not working and there were multiple puzzles that they didn't make sense weren't story driven/seemed random which made it very difficult to solve without clues.

We liked it, but it wasn’t the best. Not overly challenging, great for a small group. Read the other parts of this review for more detail.

Fun game and a new theme for us to play through. Easier logic, immersive, and just a solid game. The clue system is straightforward and we look forward to playing more games at this property!!!

It’s alright for experienced players although I feel like it would be a good one for beginners. The game starts very strong and immersive but kind of falls off as you play through the game. There were 3 different broken parts of the game which were frustrating because we did everything correctly and just nothing happened. There’s a reuse of a few props/puzzles that I personally wasn’t a huge fan of but that’s fine. One of my biggest “complaints” is that you can’t really ask for a clue so if you’re really stuck or confused there’s not much to do. I did enjoy the visuals and story though which is why I say it’s better for beginners just because they’ll enjoy the set design of the game.

I'm a sucker for a movie theater theme! The puzzle were very clever in this game! Some evry unique things I hadn't seen before!

Was generally fun and a very cute concept. Most of the puzzles felt on the easier side and the connection between the puzzles ate up time as they could be a bit nonsensical. A lot of veteran players’ escape room intuition serves against you in this room. Could be something special with some rework, better connections between puzzles, and more plentiful puzzles overall. Currently a 6/10. Worth doing.

This place was great! Slightly hard to find the front door (this was probably more of a me thing) but once we got in this place was awesome. The lobby was nice and clean and had great photo opportunities, they also had come little games and other goodies for sale. The GM was super nice and really friendly while getting us set up! As far as gameplay, this was only the second room we’ve ever done, but I enjoyed it in different ways from the first one we did. This one was bright and easy to see your surroundings…the puzzles were challenging yet satisfying. We did need a fair amount of clues during the middle of the game but once we got over the hump, we were able to fly through the end! We got a small souvenir when we finished and got a few pictures as well! I definitely recommend this room for newbies but I think more seasoned adventurers would enjoy it for a slightly less stressful inducing experience as well.