The State College area’s first “break room” is set to open later this summer, and in addition to offering the opportunity to de-stress by smashing stuff, the business will also include a virtual reality arcade component.

Rampage Room is on track for an early August opening in the former Rue 21 location between Macy’s and Express, chief marketing officer Erik Wine said.

Break rooms are becoming increasingly popular across the country as a fun way to relieve tension and stress. At Rampage Room, customers 18 and older can book one of a variety of packages, priced for length of time and number of items. After putting on the provided protective gear, patrons choose a tool of destruction such as a baseball bat or sledgehammer then let loose on items of their choosing, from glasses and plates to printers and televisions to garden gnomes.

The VRcade is a new addition since Wine and co-owner Nicole Snyder announced plans for the business earlier this year. Initially, they intended to have a traditional escape room with changing themes. Instead, the VRcade will have virtual reality game stations and a virtual reality escape room.

Wine said with the VR escape room, patrons are still “locked” in a room and work together to solve problems and puzzles to ultimately escape. But there are no physical objects in the room and the game environment is virtual.

“Instead of a room with locked boxes, mathematical puzzles and hieroglyphics players are immersed into a make believe world that can be anything game designers can dream up… like using your problem-solving skills to escape from a futuristic space station,” Wine said.

Players are still able to see each other’s avatars, interact and hand off virtual objects to each other. 

“Teamwork, communication and cooperation are just as present and necessary in virtual gameplay as in traditional escape rooms,” Wine said.

Virtual reality activities will be open to ages 10 and older. 

Rampage Room also will have a space for birthday parties, team building and corporate events and will offer catering packages working with other local businesses. 

The business was originally planning a March opening, but Wine said they encountered some delays because of code issues related to change of use for the space from retail to recreation/amusement. They received their building permit at the end of May and renovations are underway.

A specific opening date has not yet been set, but Rampage Room is accepting bookings now through its website for dates starting in August.

Restaurant on Hold

Another Nittany Mall business slated to open later this year is on hold.

Happy Dishes, which operates a food truck and catering around the area, was planning to open a restaurant in the mall to offer the food truck favorites and new menu items.

Owner Michael Johnson said this week, however, that those plans are on hold while he is negotiating another potential restaurant location.