The objective of each of the game's levels is to maneuver a piece of candy into the mouth of a cartoon monster, called Om Nom, and also to pick up up to three stars per level by touching them with the candy.
All you have to do is cut the rope to let the candy drop into Om Nom's mouth... at first. Later levels provide bubbles, automatically-appearing rope, sliding rope as well as hazards in the form of spikes, spiders and electrical traps. Its direct sequel, Cut the Rope: Experiments, builds on prior mechanics in the same vein, adding stuff like ropes attached to suction cups. A third game, Cut the Rope: Time Travel, adds the challenge of feeding two Om Noms. A fourth game, Cut the Rope 2, introduces some new friends to help Om Nom get his candy. The fifth game, Cut the Rope: Magic, adds boss levels and the ability to transform Om Nom into other creatures. A sixth game Cut the Rope 3 was released in 2023. It replaced the candy with Nibble Nom.
A tie-in web series called Om Nom Stories was released in 2011.
Despite sounding similar, this game is completely unrelated to You Have to Burn the Rope, other than the fact that both games involve rope and breaking it.
Provides examples of:
- 100% Completion: Getting all the stars.
- Achievements in Ignorance: In the first episode of season 2 of Om Nom Toons, Om Nom pulls a parody of Excalibur (Which his medieval ancestor tried to do earlier) out of a stone just because it had candy on its hilt.
- A Winner Is You: The ending is pretty much bare bones, showing Om Nom on top of a massive mountain of candy and the words "Thank You For Playing".
- Cut the Rope 2 has a more conventional And the Adventure Continues ending.
- Bandit Mook: The spiders, sort of. They will try to steal the candy once they reach the end of the rope they're on (which is attached to the candy). To prevent them from doing so, cut the rope they're on.
- Big Eater: Om Nom. The A Winner Is You ending shows him on top of a 10-metre high mound of candy.
- Bittersweet Ending: Two of the toons in the time travel season (Ancient Egypt and the Disco era) end with Om Nom destroying the place where he goes, but his ancestor from that era seems to be happy.
- Cartoon Creature: What exactly is Om Nom supposed to be (other than a monster)?
- Casual Video Game
- Dinner Deformation: If Om Nom eats the candy in baby form in Cut The Rope: Magic he takes the form of the candy.
- Easter Egg: Try touching Om Nom and see what happens.
- Exactly What It Says on the Tin: You have to cut the rope.
- Excuse Plot: You have a monster, and he's hungry for candy.
- Evil Laugh: The spiders do one when they nab your candy.
- Fuzzball Spider: The enemies in the series are spiders, represented as puffy black balls with six spindly legs.
- Gotta Catch 'Em All: The stars. Three of them are in each level, and the path to getting them is less than easy...
- There's also the pictures. You have to click on suspicious parts of the background to find them, and those are very subtle.
- On Cut the Rope 2 there are clovers that require special power ups to get to, as well as medals for completing levels a certain way (earning over a certain amount of points, collecting only one or two stars, not using certain tools, etc.). Getting them unlocks bonus levels.
- Gravity Screw: Present in the Cosmic Box, and also a few levels in the Magic Box.
- Heli-Critter: Roto from Cut the Rope 2.
- Herr Doctor: The professor in Cut the Rope: Experiments.
- Identical Ancestor: The various Om Noms from different eras in Cut the Rope: Time Travel.
- Karma Houdini: The spiders that steals Om Nom's Candy stash in Cut the Rope 2 disappeared after the intro.
- King Mook: The wizard in Cut the Rope: Magic is basically a larger spider with robes and a turban. The last episode of season 4 of Om Nom Stories reveal that he's actually a regular spider empower by say tuban.
- Meaningful Name: OmNomnomnomnomnomnom...
- Our Dragons Are Different: On Cut the Rope: Magic you can briefly turn Om Nom into a dragon. He doesn't breathe fire, but he does let out a Sneeze of Doom powerful enough to knock things around a bit.
- Our Monsters Are Different: And this one's adorable and harmless...
- Peek-a-Bogeyman: Boo from Cut the Rope 2.
- Ridiculously Cute Critter: Om Nom, the little green monster. And if he fails to get his candy, he makes a little "aww..." sound along with a sad face. A ridiculously cute sad face.
- Exaggerated in the web series Om Nom Stories which shows him looking for candy in the real world.
- The first episode of season 2 (episode 11) kicks off the "Time Travel" arc. Starting with episode 12, the episodes are fully animated. And we get to meet some of Om Nom's ancestors. D'awwwwwwwwwwwwwww... In the last episode of the season, he finally returns home. The last part of the episode shows him on a live-action background.
- And in Cut the Rope 2, Om Nom meets some new friends (known as the "Nommies"), who also feature in season 3 of Om Nom Stories:
- Roto, a flying creature
- Lick, a creature who can make tightrope-like bridges using his tongue
- Blue, a creature that can make copies of himself
- Toss, a creature who can throw almost anything using the spring on top of her head
- Boo, a creature who likes to swing on ropes, ride in bubbles and scare Om Nom.
- Snailbrow, introduced in the "Fruit Market" update, a snail-like creature with one eye who can give Om Nom rides.
- Ginger, introduced in the "Bakery" update, a living flame creature that burns away wooden blocks.
- The transformations of Om Nom in Cut the Rope: Magic are also cute, but none more so than Baby Om Nom.
- Some of the more recent Cut the Rope games and media introduced Nibble Nom, who is nearly identical to the Baby Om Nom transformation from Cut the Rope: Magic, and is equally tooth-erodingly adorable.
- Selective Magnetism: In Cut the Rope 2 there are magnets that attract candy.
- Shown Their Work: In terms of physics, this game is very accurate- tension, gravity, momentum are all fully and well-implemented.
- Six Legged Spider: Unfortunately, the spiders do fail biology by having only six legs.
- The Smurfette Principle: Currently, Toss is the only female Nommie. (Unless if Om Nelle were to count, who debutted in an Om Nom Stories short and later in the My Om Nom virtual pet spinoff)
- Spikes of Doom: Present in many, many levels. Don't let the candy touch these - it will crack, and Om Nom will be sad.
- Spin-Off: ZeptoLab, the creators of the game, made a series of short subjects called Om Nom Stories. As of this writing, 27 episodes (in three seasons, each corresponding to a game in the Cut the Rope series), a pilot, and two "Behind the Scenes" reels have been posted. Here is the first episode.
- Another Spinoff is My Om Nom, a virtual pet app where you have to take care of either Om Nom or Om Nelle.
- Springs, Springs Everywhere: The Toy Box introduces bouncy platforms which the candy will bounce off from.
- On Cut the Rope 2 you have Toss, who is a living spring.
- Surprise Jump: In Cut the Rope 2 you can use Boo to scare Om Nom into a new position.
- Sweet Tooth: Om Nom really really loves candy.
- Teleporters and Transporters: The Magic Box introduces the magician's hats, which act as transporters. The sweet retains its speed if it passes through one, allowing some interesting situations.
- The Christmas stockings in the Cut The Rope: Holiday Gift,
which were added before the Magic Box. - Wormhole like portals appear in Time Travel and Magic.
- The Christmas stockings in the Cut The Rope: Holiday Gift,
- Timed Mission: Several of them, especially those where the stars disappear after a short time.
- Also, if there's a spider involved, you have to get rid of it (by cutting the rope it's on) before it gets to the candy, otherwise, cue the spider grinning as it leaps off the screen with the candy, followed by Om Nom's sad face.
- Time Stands Still: On Cut the Rope: Time Travel there's a "freeze time" button in some levels.
- Trademark Favorite Food: Candy for Om Nom, and presumably the spiders who try to steal it.
- Sweet Tooth
- When Om Nom is in mouse form in Cut the Rope: Magic, the candy turns into a ball of Cartoon Cheese.
- Two Halves Make a Plot: First seen in the Valentine Box. You need to get two halves of candy together in order to merge it to feed Om Nom.
- Video Game Caring Potential: In the opening screen for Cut the Rope 2, you can rub the screen and rub Om Nom's head. He'll make some sort of adorable purring noise.
- Whoopee Cushion: Used to move the candy or Om Nom. In Cut the Rope: Magic they are replaced by bellows.
