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Oscar Push/Pull: Going in a New Direction
Specs
5" x 5" x 4" depth
Cost
$ 99 for spinner (without knob)
$ 9 for USB mouse interface
$ 6-19 (approx.) for knob
Total: $ 114-127
Quick Summary
The most unique spinner in this roundup, the Oscar Push/Pull spinner adds up/down buttons that are built right into the spinner itself.
Description
The biggest, heaviest, most solidly built spinner in the roundup also brings to the table unique integrated up/down buttons. Modeled on the spinner for the arcade game “Discs of Tron,” the Oscar Push/Pull spinner is an enormous spinner, with a 5" x 5" x 4" installation footprint. Even so, it doesn’t have the heaviest “feel” of the spinners – more about mid-range. Considering its size, it’s actually got a fairly light touch.
Installation
Installation was only a bit more complicated than some of the other spinners, mainly due to the design allowing installation in either wood or metal control panels (Well, that and the fact that it requires a very large 5” x 5” x 4” depth area to install!). There are some metal spacer bars that you need to add for a wood control panel installation, but other than that it’s the same routine as the other spinners: drill hole, add four screws, and attach the knob. The two screws in the back were a bit difficult to get to, since they were under the bracket that holds the leaf switches.
Closeup of DOT Knob Installed on Oscar Push/Pull Spinner
Design
The design of the Oscar Push/Pull spinner is very unique, and that it makes it a bit hard to fairly compare it to the other spinners, since it really did have some different design goals.
As a “Discs of Tron” spinner, it is unequalled. The leaf switches for the up/down motion are responsive, although perhaps not fast enough to use the up/down motion as a "fire" button in faster shooting games. Still, the up/down switches are great for the game the spinner was originally designed for, Discs of Tron, and they can be used in other spinner games that use a button (such as Arkanoid).
As a general-purpose spinner, however, the Oscar Push/Pull spinner does have to make some compromises. There is a slight wobble to the spinner due to the free-moving inner shaft, and spin times are on the low side (there is a supplied sleeve bearing included which can reduce the wobble, but this also adds some additional friction.) There is also about an eighth of an inch of “play” when turning the spinner before the inner shaft pins hit the outer shaft (with the encoder wheel), causing a “click” feel when turning the spinner. None of these factors affect gameplay much, but they do produce a noticably different overall feel to the spinner, and also make this the noisiest of the spinners tested.
Pros
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Unique Up/Down buttons built into spinner
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Extra heavy-duty construction
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Great knob
Cons
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Slower spin time
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Spinner wobbles slightly and “clicks” when turning
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Very large installation footprint
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