Break, smash and rage at Smash Room in Merle Hay Mall
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Linh and Jason with a broken router and Keurig at Smash Room in Merle Hay Mall. Photo: Linh Ta/Axios
If you're looking for a place to let off a little steam or you just want to get rid of that cruddy appliance — Smash Room Iowa is the place for you.
Driving the news: Smash Room moved from Urbandale into its new location at Merle Hay Mall in October.
- Owner Chad Lambert is still working on the space, but there's plenty of windshields, dummies and wine bottles for you to throw, hit and break.
- Just last week, Lambert also opened a "splatter room" with black lights and neon paints, as well as an axe-throwing station.
The intrigue: Axios Des Moines' Linh Ta and Jason Clayworth aren't typically the type of people to "rage," but they wanted to check it out because ... hey, who doesn't want to break things?
- The victims: Jason's Keurig coffee maker that seems to never fill the mug and his less than stellar Qwest router dating back to the 2000s.
The result: Like Thor, Jason deftly used a hammer to bring his uncaffeinated anger down on his coffee machine.
- Meanwhile, Linh's strikes against the router were for all the times she waited 2+ hours for an album to download on iTunes.
Where to find it: 3800 Merle Hay Rd., Suite 900, Des Moines.
- You can rent your own smash room starting at $80.