SINCE last November, in the lower bowl of the 1st on Wharf sports bar at Twin Towns, something of a generation gap has become visible of a Wednesday evening.

Sunken off to the side of the bar bistro is an area for dining and watching sports, with flatscreens offering a sports smorgasbord from greyhound racing, NRL match, European Tour golf and variety panel programs like The Back Page.

This typical sports fare, however, is widely ignored for two mega screens at the back of the room. In the foreground of each is a figure holding a pistol, viewed from first-person perspective, waiting to become embodied by one of the many gamers beginning to fill the room.

Half an hour later, an eager ring of eSports fans, aged between 18-30, crowd below the big screens.

Now a visage of bullets and bombs, the screens hold their undivided attention.

In the middle of the lower bowl is a core of nonplussed diners, looking up from their meal every once to check on the progress of the 'terrorists' or 'counter-terrorists'.

On the outskirts, drinking wine and beer and wearing apprehensive smiles, is a more typical Twin Towns punter. The look on their face is unconvinced, but their focus on the screen is laser-like, matching the curiosity up front.

This new crowd that has been gathering at 1st on Wharf since November are here to play Counter-Strike: Global Offensive, a 'first-person shooter' in which two opposing teams, 'Terrorists' and 'Counter Terrorists', compete to complete objectives such as planting bombs or securing hostages.

It was an initiative introduced to Twin Towns under the auspices of gaming manager Tim Richardson, who says eSports is the new frontier.

"We were responding to market demand,” Richardson said.

"eSports is the fastest growing activity in the world.”

He said the club, which has invested in hi-spec hardware of repute within the gaming community - IPS screens, GTX 1060 graphics card, hybrid keyboards and razor-sharp Cougar keyboard mouses, is eager to court what could be a new generation of regulars to Twin Towns.

"The people that play eSports have never been to Twin Towns before,” he said.

"It's given them a reason to come and see the club in a different light, and it's bringing a new aspect to a traditional venue.”

In one of the first match-ups of the evening, with team 'No Pants' pitted against the 'Momentous Butchers', a team No Pants player, depicted as a terrorist clad in guerilla militia cloth, crouches behind an oil drum, before rushing out and delivering a fatal 'headshot' to his Momentous Butchers adversary.

The terrorists were winning.

Off to the side of the room, architect of the operation and Twin Towns IT guru Wayne Forman streams the contest live online, while another employee, Josh Wilson, calls each match play-by-play over the P.A.

Wilson chimes in whenever a particularly cunning move is made by one of the players: an artful shot through smoke, a 'flashbang' finds its target, a bomb is defused.

"4-0. Terrorists win. It's a whitewash,” announces Wilson.

Team No Pants would be hard to beat.