The Dutch go wild in "smash rooms"; Popularity due to energy crisis and housing market

More and more people in the Netherlands are making use of so-called “smash rooms,” where people can take out their frustrations on inanimate objects. With anger rising for a variety of reasons, people are increasingly visiting the locations where furniture can be broken into pieces, and glasses can be thrown against the wall.

These smash rooms go by a variety of names, including anger rooms or in Dutch, “sloopkamer,” which translates to “demolition room.” Various items can be used as demolition tools in the rooms, like baseball bats, tennis rackets and balls to destroy fragile objects made of glass and heavier items, like tables, chairs, and appliances.

Raw emotion is given free rein in these spaces, with no consequences. The motto there is that the more destruction, the better. And it is precisely this motto that is leading the 'smash rooms' becoming increasingly popular, writes De Telegraaf.

The newspaper said that the Dutch people who are clients of the room are angry, frustrated and overwhelmed for many reasons, including the current global situation, the Russian-Ukraine war, the energy crisis or the Dutch housing market. The smash rooms are one way to get those emotions out which have been building up over time.

The urge to literally provide a space to take out one's rage also found popularity during the Covid-19 pandemic a year ago. The company Carsmash set up a special "rage room" in Vijfhuizen, giving people the possibility to release their lockdown frustrations. Visitors were able to relieve their pandemic stress and anger by smashing cars and destroying other different objects.