Sometimes you’re so mad or stressed that you feel like breaking something, but no one wants to actually ruin their own stuff and that’s what “rage rooms” are all about. Here, people can pay to demolish and destroy items, like TVs, laptops, ceramics, and old furniture. Rage rooms, or anger rooms, are entertainment and self-care rolled into one and people all over the country are getting in on the action.
Peter Wolf, co-founder of Rage Ground in Los Angeles, says rage rooms started popping up in Asia around 20 years ago and these days they can be found in most major cities in the U.S. With fun names like “Smash Therapy,” it’s no wonder folks flock there to break and shatter stuff until their heart’s content.
Visitors pay between $30 and $390, depending on the place, to suit up and hit stuff. There are just a few rules at most rage rooms, mostly relating to not hitting the walls or throwing things through the ceiling, which is bound to happen when you get enough people in there venting their feelings while wrecking stuff with metal bats.
Rage rooms aren’t for everyone and some therapists warn they can even make stress or anger worse for some people. Painting and meditating are also good ways to lower levels of the stress hormone cortisol, but this is just the kind of therapy some are looking for.
“It’s really about providing a safe space so you can come in when you feel like you need to and get it all out of your system without harming anyone and breaking your own stuff,” Wolf says. “And then we clean it up for you.”