A snow ball battle is a kind of playful battle usually happening in winter. Participants attack each others by throwing balls made of snow collected on the ground. Usually, kids are the ones who participate to snow ball battles, but no one says that adults never feel like starting snow ball battles too.

A battle of this kind can quickly degenerate, if the confrontation side of the game begins to overwhelm the playful side. For instance, a snow balls battle may get a lot more dangerous if snow balls are stuffed, with any kind of object (nails, screws, bolts), or with stones. Replacing snow balls with pétanque boules (metal balls) can definitely affect the fun spirit of a battle.

In Kansas state in the USA, the snow balls battle issue is really serious. Thus, Topeka city's mayor discovered in December of 2005 that he broke a law just by throwing a snow ball on a tree.
For that he risked a 499$ fine and a 179 days jail sentence. The mayor decided then to cancel the ban of throwing snow balls.