Even after perusing through the manuals for hotkeys, I can seem to figure out how to bring up the menu while in a game. Only way to exit is for the game to end, or to force it to quit.

Alright, thanks for that. Can't seem to find it in the manuals

No problem
The first time i played the game, I pressed every key in order to find the menu key. So yeah, it was probably not the best choice to select F12 as default.

The little arrow in the top middle opens the menu as well.