Snoball in Hell is a Breakout variant mixed with a shoot 'em up. The player is in control of the Snoball battle tractor, a tank-like vehicle that can be moved up and down along the left edge of the screen. Like in any Breakout game, the objective of each of the game's 16 levels is to clear all bricks by hitting them with a bouncing ball but here there are also numerous enemies that fly from the right towards Snoball. These have to be shot down or dodged since any contact will lead to a life being lost. Missing the ball also leads to a life being lost and the player has five lives in total.

In addition to the enemies the player can shoot bonuses that aid the player and anti-bonuses that hinder the player. Bonuses include extra points, slower missile speed, auto rebound, shields, extra lives and level skip while anti-bonuses include minus points, slow fire rate, enemy attack wave, life lost and restart of level.