At the end, the result is always the same: total devastation.
But what remains beyond a pile of rubbish? Muscles are sore,
the mouth is dry and the spirit is exhausted by this unusual
outbreak of violence. Mersch and his staff need to work for a
good two hours afterwards to clean up the mess and
prepare the room for the next “guest,” writes Tobias Hase


SLIGHT, CAMERA, ACTION: A journalist researching this story uses a baseball bat to rip the cover off a photocopying machine in the Munich rage room during a vandalism session. Customers must wear protective goggles, working overalls and a cap.

A plain backyard building in the west of Munich. The office space within looks grey, uncomfortable and spartan. No-one is meant to feel good here, because this barren room is a so-called rage room.
The task: To smash everything in the room to pieces in 30 minutes.
The means: A baseball bat and a sledgehammer. The goal: To reduce stress and encourage relaxation and fun, the promoters say.
“The users come out smiling, on a high,” says Hartmut Mersch,
who recently opened the rage room in the German city, inspired by US examples.

The inhibition threshold
Anyone who has learned to keep their emotions in check doesn’t want to vandalise things. Not computers, telephones and televisions. They don’t smash cups, shelves and sofas just because they feel like it.
So the baseball bat will feel heavy in the hand at first, but “the inhibition threshold falls after a few blows,” Mersch says.
So take a deep breath and start smashing. Bang! A cup is shattered, then another. The keys on the computer keyboard go flying through the air and soon the desk has a dent in it. It’s undeniably fun.
“Your inhibition threshold means that you possess social skills, that you have learned to appreciate things,” says Laszlo A. Pota, a psychologist based in Luebeck. “Overcoming your appreciation, and destruction of property that others have created, means a transgression of borders within yourself.”

The furniture
With a deafening thud the hammer strikes the desk again. The wood splinters and cracks and the piece of furniture collapses. Then there’s a thought: Surely there are people who’d be happy with this discarded furniture, most of which comes from demolished apartments?
But really, it’s just old junk that no-one in Germany would want any longer. At the Diakonia Secondhand charity shop in Munich, a saleswoman confirms this: In rich Germany, even the poor turn up their noses at shoddy old furniture.
“People on a budget can afford to buy quite tasteful items of furniture in our shop,” says Martina Kreis. So there’s no need to spare the tired old furniture and tawdry cups, plates and saucers in the rage room, not even for sentimental reasons.

The intoxication
According to the promoters, there comes a point of intoxication where one wants to smash everything into little pieces — fired up by the menacing music and perhaps, thoughts of irritating work colleagues or an unfaithful lover you’d love to punch.
“You definitely have adrenalin,” says Mersch. “I would compare it with other crazy things like bungee jumping or skydiving. One really is in a state of intoxication and then follows a feeling of happiness.”
Smashing up furniture has a peculiar charm. One stands there amidst shattered wood and broken glass, fine dust floating in the air. It’s frightening how easy it is to destroy, even if one’s muscles are burning now.
Everyday stress is the main reason why customers pay Mersch 139 euros ($150) for a session in the rage room. “Everybody experiences it. Like, remember the last time your photocopier had a paper jam and you got just so angry. Here you’ve got a photocopier, and you can deal with the problem in a different way.”

Stress reduction
The rage room is a refuge for stressed-out corporate executives. Many women also come, Mersch says. There’s a rage room like this in Budapest which even has its own special programme for that demographic: The Angry Housewife. For 15 euros a lot of porcelain can be smashed. Or “Bad Party,” an uninhibited romp that sees plenty of bottles and glasses shattered.
But does it really help to beat stress? “The old catharsis hypothesis that said people could reduce aggression by acting out aggression is truly out of date,” says Andreas Zick who researches anger at the University of Bielefeld in Germany.
Pota, who has worked with many aggressive adolescents, says Zick is right and the rage-room idea is wrong. “Violence is always a sign of helplessness,” he says. “Fury and rage just make you sicker and cause stress.”
If someone smashes things up in the rage room and enjoys it, they might be tempted to do the same in the real world, warns Pota, who has a better anger-management tip: Don’t swallow your rage, but rather look for causes and ways to fix them.

Feeling happy
But does destruction make you happy? Maybe the men and women celebrating a bachelorette party here are having a happy time? Two are smashing up furniture, while the rest are at the bar while they watch the spectacle on two monitors.
And what about those who dream of love and book the “First Date” package here? A romantic, candle-lit dinner first and “then it all kicks off,” the website says. Not with a delicate caress, but with a baseball bat.
Shared destruction binds people together, Mersch believes. Whether it’s a party, a love meeting or a one-person orgy of destruction, Mersch and his staff need to work for a good two hours afterwards to clean up the mess and prepare the room for the next “guest.”

The outcome
At the end, the result is always the same: total devastation. But what remains beyond a pile of rubbish? Muscles are sore, the mouth is dry and the spirit is exhausted by this unusual outbreak of violence.
After the excitement, you’re at the end of your tether and just want to go home, sit down on the sofa and go blank. You can’t cope with even the slightest shock or disturbance after such an orgy of violence.
Mersch says almost every session ends up that same way: “On average the room has been devastated in 30 minutes. And afterwards, the customer feels utterly drained by the whole experience.” — DPA