Menahga couple opens escape room in downtown Wadena

BY FRANK LEE Wadena Pioneer Journal

WADENA — Brad and Michelle Krotzer’s idea of fun is being “locked” in a room, and they are banking that others in the Wadena area find escape rooms fun, too.

The married couple from Menahga with five children works in the Wadena area and opened in June the first escape room in the region called Escape 2 Fun. Their new business venture is located in the former MAHUBE-OTWA offices on Jefferson Street in downtown Wadena.

“For an escape room, this is a very, very small town. But we’re hoping to draw not only the locals but the people from the surrounding vacationing area,” Brad Krotzer said.

Added Michelle Krotzer, “We’re in a chapter change in our life, meaning our youngest just graduated from high school, so we’re moving into that empty nest stage. And so our goal is to slow down and retire out of our primary current job and find something fun to do in the next chapter in our life.” Brad Krotzer is 63 and owns Custom Septic, which installs, designs and inspects septic systems down in the metro area. Michelle Krotzer is 51 and works as a full-time massage therapist at Comfort Corner Massage, which is adjacent to Escape 2 Fun in Wadena.

“I’m addicted to games, and I just absolutely love all types of games and stuff,” Michelle Krotzer said. “And we came up with the idea of an escape room. … And so we just started dreaming, and we designed the current room basically from scratch.”

An escape room is a game in which a team of players discover clues, solve puzzles and accomplish tasks in one or more rooms in order to accomplish a specific goal in a limited amount of time, according to Wikipedia, and the goal is often to escape from the room.

“Technically, you’re not locked in the room. You’re welcome to leave at any time. It’s designed for puzzle-solving,” Michelle Krotzer said of Escape 2 Fun, which is available by appointment only.

“We’ve gone to a few escape rooms and enjoyed it and just came up with an idea and a storyline and spent a lot of time designing it and testing it and putting it together. Everyone that has come through is very happy with it.”

Brad Krotzer said their escape room has a median complexity with a 7.5 to 8 out of 10 skill level compared to other escape rooms like the ones in Brainerd, St. Cloud or Alexandria. The room’s theme is “Banker Bob” and the expressed goal is to locate Banker Bob, who has gone missing.

“Banker Bob is missing, and we are suspicious of a little bit of foul play because he’s had some shady dealings with some people, or he’s had some dealings with some shady people recently and so we want everybody to help us find Bob,” he said of the escape room’s bank setting.

“We don’t allow cellphones out, usually, in the room because we don’t want people taking pictures, because it would ruin it for somebody else.

… But we make sure you’re supplied in the room with absolutely everything you need if you just look around the room.”

Plans are to add two or more escape rooms in the near future, according to the local chamber of commerce, and the couple will also change up the escape room with a fresh and challenging new mission so as to bring back repeat customers.

“You get to try to put clues together, to try to figure something out, so as soon as you get into the room, you start getting absorbed with the things that you can look at, what you can search for, the things that you can do,” Michelle Krotzer said.

Brad Krotzer said, “We have cameras set up throughout the room to keep an eye on you in case anything were to happen where somebody had a problem where they get frustrated with the puzzle or they can’t figure it out.”

Brad Krotzer said he and his wife do their best “not to make people feel stupid” by way of how they designed their Escape 2 Fun escape room, so people can enjoy the experience, which generally runs about an hour long depending on skill level.

“What we do is design the room so that it handles many, many different types of thinkers and brains,” he said. “Some of the things in the room take more mental work, some of them take more strategy. … We have something for everybody in there.”

A minimum group of three individuals and a maximum of six is recommended to participate in the Escape 2 Fun escape room; the cost is $27 per person and if there are less than three in a group, the total cost for a single individual or two people still wanting to play is $81. For more information about Escape 2 Fun in downtown Wadena, visit the Facebook page or website. Schedule an appointment to play by calling 218-670-5505.

FRANK LEE is the features writer for the Wadena Pioneer Journal. He may be reached at 218-631-6470 or at flee@wadenapj.com.