Rage against the machine in safety
Stephen Heard finds a safe space to pulverise photos of ex-partners and horrible bosses until the point of no return.
One particularly good smash came after stacking three plates on top of each other and striking with one brutal swoop.
All the rage, rage or anger rooms serve as a safe space to pulverise photos of ex-partners and horrible bosses and destroy tired household items. The idea came to life in Japan as a form of recession therapy and can now be enjoyed across the world as a form of stress release. Sessions typically last between 15-30 minutes, during which paying customers can unleash with a selection of weapons. New Zealand’s newest rage room is at Mt Maunganui trampoline park Dialled Indoor.
Less room, more weathered shipping container, Rage Room comes equipped with an assortment of weapons: golf clubs, hammers, crowbars and sizeable sledge hammers. I chose the latter, but first I was required to suit up for safety reasons. To help ward off the shrapnel was an outfit consisting of one-size-fits-all overalls, three-sizes-too-big gumboots, surgical gloves covered by gardening gloves, a dust mask and a helmet complete with face shield and earmuffs.
Rage Room gives customers the option to bring their own box of smashable items, as long as they can carry it, or you can pay extra to smash the company’s breakables. You can also connect a bluetooth speaker to play your own rage soundtrack— Limp Bizkit’s Break Stuff would be an obvious choice. Deciding not to cart along my own deceased microwave, I selected to smash whatever lay out back at the trampoline park. In a yellow crate arrived what could have been the dinnerware selection of my university flat: an array of Grandma’s ugliest plates, cups, glasses, vases and serving platters, complete with price tags from their previous home at the charity shop.
Once the supervisors were safe behind the plastic shield, my 15 minutes of rage began by wiping out each item atop a blue drum. They smashed with ease. One particularly good smash came after stacking three plates on top of each other and striking with one brutal swoop. 1000 shards of porcelain deflected off my face shield. The plates had no chance. Between sledges, I also threw a vintage tumbler against the container wall. The experience was satisfying but mildly concerning that someone probably could have used all of SUPPLIED the now-obliterated items in their own kitchen. Five minutes later and I’d cleared the crate. The floor was covered in broken glass and ceramics. Leaving the shipping container, I asked the supervisor what happens to the remains. He admitted that they just get swept into the corner. He also said I was the fastest smasher he’d ever seen.
The idea of a rage room is that you can release anger/stress by laying into inanimate objects. While it’s highly unlikely that a rage room will fix deeper, ongoing anger issues, it’s an effective and safe environment to release negative energy. If you look into it far enough, the activity could very loosely be put into the same basket as high-intensity interval training — short and hard rounds of physical exercise.
Dialled Indoor attempts to take the risk out of the equation by providing a safety suit and cracking down on dangerous items. Participants are given a safety briefing, though technique tends to go out the window when winding up with a sledge hammer. Smashing is serious and caution should be taken. Violence is not (and should never be) the remedy for anger and you shouldn’t approach these rooms looking to heal wounds. For serious anger management issues you should consult a professional. dialled.co.nz/the-rage-room/