Yukigassen

Yukigassen (雪合戦, IPA: [jɯkiɡaꜜsseɴ]) is a snowball fighting-competition from Japan.

Today there are annual tournaments in Sōbetsu in Japan, Kemijärvi in Finland, Vardø in Norway, Murmansk in Russia, Mount Buller in Australia, Luleå in Sweden, Anchorage in Alaska, Aparan in Armenia, Jasper and Saskatoon in Canada.

In Japanese, yukigassen is a compound of the words yuki (雪, 'snow') and kassen (合戦, 'battle', with rendaku to gassen).

The game is played on a court with certain measurements, and the winner is determined through rules made by the Japan Yukigassen Federation.

Players wear special yukigassen helmets with face shields, and a set number of snowballs (90) are made in advance.