Teams of warriors are clashing in battle on a grid for global bragging rights and more.

Sore and achy from the contest though they may be, the best will emerge victorious and claim rarefied glory - 1,200 Wii Points.

Huh?

Hawaii-based Tetris Online Inc. launched its second online Tetris Party Tournament at 2 p.m. yesterday, Hawaii time (midnight Greenwich Mean Time).

Using their Nintendo Wii consoles, the WiiWare game download called Tetris Party and the Internet, teams of two will compete with others in the U.S. and Canada for the highest score and lowest time to clear 150 lines of game pieces, called Tetriminos.

Players will “;go in to tournament mode and choose to play the available game,”; which requires teams of two, said Casey Pelkey, vice president of marketing.

The two cooperate to try to get the highest score and, to be eligible, must play for a minimum of five minutes.

“;It's a pretty fairly integrated solution, so when you go online with your friend, you play and the game records the score and sends it to our server,”; he said.

The tournament lasts 15 days, ending at 1:59 p.m. Sunday, Feb. 15, Hawaii time, or 11:59 p.m. GMT.

Players can see their performance against other players, providing they are among the first 1,000 teams that fit on the leader board, Pelkey said.

“;You play the game over and over and every time you post a higher score it'll be recorded, so if you work your way up to the top 100, you win 1,200 Wii Points.

That is enough to buy another game download, he said.

Nintendo calculates Wii Point value at about a penny, so each prize is worth $12, but 100 of those will be given away in the North American tournament while another 100 will be given away to top players in Europe and Australia, in a separate tournament.

“;We expect pretty high participation - clearly in the thousands,”; in each tournament, Pelkey said. Tetris Party has been “;a top seller”; since its fall release.

Winners will receive a certificate confirming their winnings.

Wii Points also can be bought at retail, and used “;like an online wallet,”; he said.

More tournaments are planned for 2009.

In fact, another one, with 500 prizes, begins Feb. 16. It will be “;one big, two-week melee,”; said Pelkey.

Founded in January 2006 by Minoru Arakawa and Henk Rogers, Tetris Online develops and publishes electronic games. In addition to Tetris Party, titles include Tetris Splash for Xbox LIVE Arcade and Tetris Friends, the latter of which can be found at online social network Facebook.com.