SpyroFTW's ratings

OXO is a fun game if you like your games simple. Strong rebuilt pop bumpers are a must and active slingshots as well. The rules are simple, but getting some of the Xs or Os can be rather tricky sometimes, especially the top lane ones. The most satisfying shot in the game is making an 'around the world' shot where you go through the left or right 'orbit' and hit both the A and B targets, lighting the pop bumpers. This makes scoring a breeze if you can keep the ball up top and in the bumpers. The game is pretty generous with extra balls depending on how you set it up so I highly recommend setting it to 3 balls. As a side note, if you dont like pointy people, this isnt the game for you. Also, I highly recommend changing out the original red posts for blue ones and white rubbers. Really makes the game pop. While not the best EM ever, I do think that is is worth trying and fun enough to keep around for the wonderful EM sounds.

This was my first pin and is still my main pin, while waiting to buy more. From what I have noticed, there are two schools of thought on this pin: those that love the theme and don't care as much about the shots, and those that don't like the lack of rules depth. For some reason, people equate a deep rules set with being more fun. While I get that having more objectives and more "modes" can definitely be fun, I don't think it is required. How many times have you played an old EM that has no real depth to the rules, but it was still tons of fun to thwack a ball around and hit that one spinner, or a bank of drop targets?

So. What school am I in? I am in the special needs school. I bought this game purely for the theme. But, I also really enjoy playing it. Hitting that 10M point shot after getting all the letters by hitting the ramps, or lighting the twin millions by hitting the captive ball, and then hitting both ramps and finally, the sewer shot, it very satisfying. The music is fantastic, the callouts are ok, the theme is amazing, and the rules suck. Yes, the rules suck. But I am ok with that. I don't play this pin to get wrapped up into a story spanning the entirety of the history of the universe. For me, this is like a fighting video game. You go in, smash buttons, and every once in a while you get that special move that dispatches the enemy and nets a bunch of points.

Pros: theme, artwork, callouts, captive ball, sewer, music.

Cons: few shots, callouts, rules, plastic ramps, auto-launch mech

At the end of the day, the great thing a pinball is that everyone has their own thoughts on what makes a game good. I love this pin and it will probably never leave my collection. Do I recommend this game? Absolutely, but only to people that like a simple rules set. Sometimes I don't want to read a graphic novel. Sometimes, I want to thwack a ball around and hear the amazing music and some of the callouts.

Remember, opinions are like pinballs, if you don't have at least one, you are doing something wrong with your life.

P.S. The plastic ramps are going to break, or have already broken. Fix them as best you can, and get back to playing. One of these days I would like to get around to making all metal ramps with clear inserts so that the lights below can be seen.