Vent your stresses with general destruction at Ogden’s Smash-It rage room
Owner of Smash It Madison Furgeson takes a baseball bat to a coffee mug on Tuesday, Dec. 17, 2019. Smash It is Ogden's new rage room where customers can relieve stress by smashing things.
Madison, left, and Braeden Furgeson, owners of Smash It, set up glass bottle targets on Tuesday, Dec. 17, 2019. Smash It is Ogden's new rage room where customers can relieve stress by smashing things.
Madison, left, and Braeden Furgeson, owners of Smash It, throw glass bottles at a wall on Tuesday, Dec. 17, 2019. Smash It is Ogden's new rage room where customers can relieve stress by smashing things.
Madison, left, and Braeden Furgeson, owners of Smash It, throw glass bottles at a wall on Tuesday, Dec. 17, 2019. Smash It is Ogden's new rage room where customers can relieve stress by smashing things.
Braeden Furgeson, owner of Smash It, throws glass bottles at a wall on Tuesday, Dec. 17, 2019. Smash It is Ogden's new rage room where customers can relieve stress by smashing things.
Madison Furgeson, owner of Smash It, throws glass bottles at a wall on Tuesday, Dec. 17, 2019. Smash It is Ogden's new rage room where customers can relieve stress by smashing things.
Madison Furgeson, owner of Smash It, smashes a coffee maker with a crowbar on Tuesday, Dec. 17, 2019. Smash It is Ogden's new rage room where customers can relieve stress by smashing things.
Pick your tool of destruction at Smash It, Ogden's new rage room where customers can relieve stress by smashing things.
Braeden Furgeson, owner of Smash It, throws glass bottles at a wall on Tuesday, Dec. 17, 2019. Smash It is Ogden's new rage room where customers can relieve stress by smashing things.
Madison Furgeson takes a baseball bat to a coffee mug on Tuesday, Dec. 17, 2019. Smash It is Ogden's new rage room where customers can relieve stress by smashing things.
Appliances wait to be smashed at Smash It, Ogden's new rage room where customers can relieve stress by smashing things.
OGDEN — Violently destroying objects could get you fired or arrested in other settings, but at Smash-It Utah, obliteration is a social norm.
Hurl a glass vase into a metal wall. Take a 10-pound sledgehammer to a computer monitor. Crush “any appliance you can think of,” Braeden Furgeson said.
The possibilities are as boundless as the number of discarded objects Smash-It collects, and customers can even bring their own breakables, said Furgeson, 27, who owns and runs the new rage room with his wife, 22-year-old Madison.
It’s a niche meant for today’s world.
“I have realized that most kids, most people, don’t know how to effectively deal with stress,” Furgeson said.
“Back in the day you might go hunting or split some logs,” he said. “But as time has moved onward, millennials and office workers don’t have as much time and opportunity for that.”
Smash-It addresses that need by allowing “stressed-out people to relieve some stress,” he said, and coincidentally it’s also a place for those “who just want to have fun and smash some stuff.”
The process is simple. You get a bin, fill it with objects, select your weapon or weapons, don some safety gear, and enter your assigned rage room. Smash away, in teams, groups, couples, or even as loners.
Rage rooms are trending on the coasts, but Smash-It is reportedly Utah’s first dedicated rage-room venue, according to Furgeson. Some ax-throwing sites have rage rooms, he said.
Smash-It offers a range of implements, including sledgehammers, baseball bats, crowbars, and assorted other hammers. More will be added based on customer recommendations and preferences.
Common smash-able objects are TV sets, computer monitors, toasters, vases, beer bottles and pickle jars, he said.
Theme rooms add variety. In the “throw zone,” for example, participants fling glass objects at a metal wall about 25 feet away.
The wall features targets as well. Customers may bash glass on images of President Donald Trump or Hillary Clinton, for instance.
Smash-It also offers to set up special rooms upon reservation, such as this that might appeal to a work party:
“If a group of guys wants to destroy an office, we set up a room where they can destroy an office,” Furgeson said.
All debris is recycled — one reason the glass breakage is confined to one room. Smash-It accepts donations of smash-able objects as well, another green feature, Furgeson said.
The venue does not have a kitchen, but food trucks are on hand occasionally and customers are welcome to bring in their own food, he added.
Alcoholic beverages are not served and intoxicated customers are not allowed to participate.
“If you’re already smashed, no smashing allowed,” Furgeson said.
While the violent nature of the activity at Smash-It may give some pause, Furgeson said he compares it to boxing and martial arts. Those are controlled actions performed in dedicated places, but with the addition of person-to-person physical contact.
“You can go there and do those things and you are able to vent and let out steam,” he said.
Smashing things is akin to boxers training on a punching bag, he added.
Furgeson said the venue also plans to offer a children’s room where kids will be able to knock down Legos or wood blocks with whiffle bats.
ADDRESS: 2254 Washington Blvd., Ogden
HOURS: 4 p.m.-10 p.m. Monday-Thursday, 4 p.m.-11 p.m. Friday, 11 a.m.-11 p.m. Saturday
PRICES: $2 per pound of broken items, $1 per pound if you bring your own breakables
CONTACT: 385 333-5698
Source: Smash-It Utah
