'Rage room' in Singapore offers destructive solution for stress

APD NEWS

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Bad day at the office? In high-pressured Singapore there is now a solution, a "rage room" that lets stressed-out people take a baseball bat to items ranging from glass bottles to televisions.

The "Fragment Room" consists of a bare, cell-like space with concrete walls, where customers pay to indulge in a unique form of destructive stress relief.

After being given overalls, helmets, gloves and shoes, people proceed to smash up items ranging from plates to printers.

The set-up opened six months ago and inhabitants of the city-state have shown they have an appetite for destruction. Anxious office workers have given it a go, as well as students and retirees in their 60s.

While Singapore is ultra-modern and affluent, it is also notorious for the high levels of stress suffered by its citizens, from school children to adults, who are placed under huge pressure to do well from an early age.

The set-up, one of several such "rage rooms" in cities around the world, has two main offerings: half-hour slots with a limited amount of items to smash for 38 Singapore dollars (28 US dollars), or the 350 Singapore dollars (260 US dollars) "annihilation pack" that lets customers smash as much as they can in half an hour.

Most items are provided by the "Fragment Room", located in a disused noodle factory in central Singapore, but customers can also bring their own.

(AFP)