Augusta has a new place to blow off some steam—or smash, bludgeon or hammer it, if that’s what one prefers.
“The need we’re trying to fulfill is to get people to find a different way to get out stress,” said Rhina Dammann, co-owner of Dahman’s Revenge Rage Room, a unique amusement enterprise that lets customers relieve tension, aggression and frustration by breaking objects.
“Moms that have a bunch of kids, or students, police officers, or veterans, because that’s what we are,” said Dammann. “We’re trying to provide us a safe space to let it all out in a physical way.”
Dahman’s Revenge is housed in a 2,430-square foot industrial-zoned flex building space off of Milledgeville Road, and has four rooms designated for destruction. Participants are suited up in protective gear and escorted to one of the rooms where they can choose between mallets, baseball bats, crowbars and the like. Then, for up to 20 minutes, they can freely bash away at old electronics, phones, furniture, glasses and so on.
There’s even a service bundle that includes paint splashing, where customers can wildly cover the room’s wall with color bombs.
“Just because you’re an adult doesn’t mean you can’t throw a temper tantrum,” said Dammann, stressing the need to express intense, often complicated feelings in a way that doesn’t confuse, harm or cause stress for others. “The logic would be to throw it in a safe space. Don’t throw it in your home or throw it in your car. Come see us and throw it in here.”
Rhina and Kelsi Dammann, who are both veterans, came up with the idea a few months ago. They had lived in Hawaii for five years before returning to the Augusta area, where they had been stationed at Fort Gordon before. After Kelsi Dammann retired after 20 years as a cardiovascular tech in the Army, she began feeling anxious and eager for something to occupy her time and help her wind down from the stressful mindset both of them had been used to.
“She was just antsy and ready for something to do,” said Rhina Dammann. “I was working at the hospital at that time, and I was suffering COVID fatigue. And she’s like, ‘What would you like to do?’”
Breaking things was the obvious answer. Rhina Dammann wrote out the business plan, and the two began masterminding the rage room.
“She’s admin; I’m logistics,” said Kelsi Dammann, who tended to building and structuring the rooms while Rhina worked out all the paperwork, which entailed, among other things, plenty of insurance.
Dahman’s Revenge offers service packages in which people can bring their own breakables or destroy items provided onsite. Many of those items are donated and recyclable. The Dammanns even offer to come by and pick up some items, like old flatscreens or broken-down chairs.
They’ll also buy objects from nonprofits that can’t be sold.
“We reach out to them and say, ‘Hey, if you have too much stuff, we’ll still give you money for it.’ It’s going for a good cause,” said Kelsi Dammann. “So, that’s been actually really nice as far as the community and building those relationships and partnerships.”
From concept to completion took the business about three months, said the Dammanns, and the revenge room went live on March 28, with a gender reveal event that entailed plenty of pink paint (it was a girl).
The rooms are decorated with graffiti art by their 14-year-old daughter Tyana. “Labor of love” and “family affair” are terms bandied between the two former soldiers who launched a business to help them calm down and channel their unease in ways that fulfilled them and, as business-owners, helped them grow closer to the Augusta community they chose to call home.
“I’m in healthcare. I love talking to people, I love taking care of people, so when I lost that, I thought, ‘Oh my gosh,’” said Kelsi Dammann about adapting to civilian life. “And when she posed that, we just made it happen overnight. Some of our friends were like, ‘Are you serious?’ And then sure enough, they said, ‘You guys did it!’ It’s like, yeah, we did. You should come check us out.”
Dahman’s Revenge Rage Room is located at 2326 Walden Drive. For more information, visit its website at https://dahmansrevenge.wixsite.com/.
Skyler Q. Andrews is a staff reporter covering education in Columbia County and business-related topics for The Augusta Press. Reach him at skyler@theaugustapress.com.
