We smashed things at Break Bar, one of a growing number of 'rage rooms' taking over the US — and found a cathartic retreat from reality

Break Bar

• We visited Break Bar, a "rage room" in New York City, where visitors can come to enjoy a cocktail before smashing everything from their empty glass to printers and computers. 
• Break Bar is one of a growing number of rage rooms in the US. Today, there are 60 of these venues, where visitors can come blow off steam by destroying household items. 
• We found the experience extremely cathartic. Here's what it was like. 
• Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.

In the heart of Midtown Manhattan there's a bar where patrons are not just allowed, but actively encouraged, to shatter their empty beer bottles and hurl cocktail glasses against the wall. 

The more adventurous — or perhaps more wrathful — can opt to rent out time in The Wrecking Room to smash household items of their choosing. At Break Bar, destroying things is the entire point.

Break Bar is among the growing number of "rage rooms" proliferating across the country in recent years. In the US, there are an estimated 60 of these venues, places designated for destroying household items, according to CNN. 

Tom Daly, founder and owner of Break Bar, said he knew he needed to create something unique if he was truly going to carve out a niche in the Manhattan nightlife scene. While the timing of Break Bar's 2016 opening just so happened to coincide with the rise of a particularly fraught and divisive political climate, he said he doesn't view the bar as "tied to anger or rage at all."

While it can offer catharsis in uncertain times, Daly said he views it more as an off-the-beaten path, refreshing experience. 

"I think of it as game," he said. "It's a fun activity that's outside of the box and new. It's a different experience and it's something unique."

I visited Break Bar on a recent Friday night and experienced the pure, unmitigated joy of smashing bottles firsthand. So cue up The Vaccines, revisit this moment from Freeform's "The Bold Type," and join me for an inside look at what it's like inside a rage room:

Break Bar is located in Midtown Manhattan, on a bustling street in the heart of the city and a prime tourist location.

Break Bar

Daly comped our visit to the bar for the purpose of this review. 

As a single lady, I had initially asked to come on Valentine's Day. However, Daly asked that I come the following week because February 14 is one of his busiest days of the year.

Break Bar

Daly said visitors can arrange to print photos of former flames or sources of contempt to use as targets for smashing.

"We get a ton of bachelorette parties," he said. 

In addition to jilted lovers, Break Bar brings in a steady stream of young professionals and regularly hosts corporate events, celebrity meet-and-greets, and office happy hours.

Break Bar

"Sometimes we hang up some targets that a corporate culture doesn't like," Daly said, declining to share any specifics.

See the rest of the story at Business Insider

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SEE ALSO: Stressed-out millennials are flocking to bars where they can throw axes at a target — here's what it's like

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