Hamilton's newest attraction is somewhere between darts league and gun range.

After an explosion of popularity across Europe that then moved into southern Ontario, Hamilton will soon be home to its very own axe-throwing league.

Iron Den Warrior Games opens on Lottridge Avenue in the east end on Jan. 17, giving the city's budding woodsmen and woodswomen a chance to hurl an axe for sport.

"It's honestly a lot of fun," said Iron Den Co-Owner Phil Pattison. "There aren't many opportunities to throw an axe."

The sport is set up something like darts, but with slightly less finesse. Participants stand back a set distance from a wooden target and chuck a 1.5-pound hatchet towards it with different point designations for bullseyes, outer rings and small, outward targets called clutches.

For tiebreakers, there are 3.5-pound and 5.5-pound axes, which would undoubtedly add to the challenge. Though that might sound daunting for some, Pattison says not to worry. "It's actually easier than you'd think," he said.

Pattison is a recent Toronto transplant, who threw axes for years in that city's well known Backyard Axe Throwing League or BATL, for short. Now, he's branching out on his own.

"There's a real market for it," he said. "I won't pretend we're breaking ground, we're following a trend here."

The sport has expanded rapidly in the last decade. BATL has seven Ontario locations, while Bad Axe Throwing has five. The company joins Serve Ping Pong Lounge and Hamilton's new "escape rooms" as the city's newest hipster-y attractions. (Though it should be noted that the mayor loves Serve, too — and is a bit of a ping pong aficionado.)

Iron Den's launch party is happening on Jan. 17 at 3 p.m. at 265 Lottridge Avenue. It's a chance to register for league play (which is $120 for 8 weeks starting Jan. 21) and only people over the age of 18 can sign up.

There is one major difference between Iron Den and its Toronto compatriots, however. Those leagues let participants drink on a bring-your-own-booze basis. That's a no-go at Iron Den, which has a "pretty strict code of conduct," Pattison said.

"We can't seem to find an insurer who would tolerate it," he said. Shocking.

adam.carter@cbc.ca