diff --git a/.travis.yml b/.travis.yml
index 72420ba..5dcebb5 100644
--- a/.travis.yml
+++ b/.travis.yml
@@ -6,7 +6,7 @@ python:
     - "2.7"
     - "3.5"
     - "3.6"
-    - "pypy"
+    # - "pypy3" # out of date OpenSSL error
 
 matrix:
     include:
diff --git a/Changes.txt b/Changes.txt
index 5f1309b..3eb443c 100644
--- a/Changes.txt
+++ b/Changes.txt
@@ -1,3 +1,7 @@
+v1.2.1 Wed 6 May 2020
+  Ensure OpenSSL is available on installation
+  Add exponential backoff to HTTP requests
+
 v1.2 Sun 9 Jun 2019
   Use https as default
   Handle 401 and 403 exceptions
diff --git a/opencage/__init__.py b/opencage/__init__.py
index d4043d5..8d050a0 100644
--- a/opencage/__init__.py
+++ b/opencage/__init__.py
@@ -2,4 +2,4 @@
 
 __author__ = "OpenCage Data"
 __email__ = 'info@opencagedata.com'
-__version__ = '1.0.0'
+__version__ = '1.2.1'
diff --git a/opencage/geocoder.py b/opencage/geocoder.py
index aea7ebc..0465056 100644
--- a/opencage/geocoder.py
+++ b/opencage/geocoder.py
@@ -4,8 +4,13 @@
 from decimal import Decimal
 import collections
 
+import os
 import six
 import requests
+import backoff
+
+def backoff_max_time():
+    return int(os.environ.get('BACKOFF_MAX_TIME', '120'))
 
 class OpenCageGeocodeError(Exception):
 
@@ -142,7 +147,29 @@ def geocode(self, query, **kwargs):
         # Add user parameters
         data.update(kwargs)
 
-        response = requests.get(self.url, params=data)
+        response = self._opencage_request(data)
+
+        return floatify_latlng(response['results'])
+
+    def reverse_geocode(self, lat, lng, **kwargs):
+        """
+        Given a latitude & longitude, return an address for that point from OpenCage's Geocoder.
+
+        :param lat: Latitude
+        :param lng: Longitude
+        :return: Results from OpenCageData
+        :rtype: dict
+        :raises RateLimitExceededError: if you have exceeded the number of queries you can make. Exception says when you can try again
+        :raises UnknownError: if something goes wrong with the OpenCage API
+        """
+        return self.geocode(_query_for_reverse_geocoding(lat, lng), **kwargs)
+
+    @backoff.on_exception(
+        backoff.expo,
+        (UnknownError, requests.exceptions.RequestException),
+        max_tries=5, max_time=backoff_max_time)
+    def _opencage_request(self, params):
+        response = requests.get(self.url, params=params)
 
         if (response.status_code == 401):
             raise NotAuthorizedError()
@@ -166,22 +193,7 @@ def geocode(self, query, **kwargs):
         if 'results' not in response_json:
             raise UnknownError("JSON from API doesn't have a 'results' key")
 
-
-        return floatify_latlng(response_json['results'])
-
-    def reverse_geocode(self, lat, lng, **kwargs):
-        """
-        Given a latitude & longitude, return an address for that point from OpenCage's Geocoder.
-
-        :param lat: Latitude
-        :param lng: Longitude
-        :return: Results from OpenCageData
-        :rtype: dict
-        :raises RateLimitExceededError: if you have exceeded the number of queries you can make. Exception says when you can try again
-        :raises UnknownError: if something goes wrong with the OpenCage API
-        """
-        return self.geocode(_query_for_reverse_geocoding(lat, lng), **kwargs)
-
+        return response_json
 
 def _query_for_reverse_geocoding(lat, lng):
     """
diff --git a/setup.py b/setup.py
index 5295692..948aa72 100644
--- a/setup.py
+++ b/setup.py
@@ -27,7 +27,7 @@
 
 setup(
     name="opencage",
-    version="1.2",
+    version="1.2.1",
     description="Simple wrapper module for the OpenCage Geocoder API",
     long_description=long_description,
     long_description_content_type='text/markdown',
@@ -56,6 +56,8 @@
     install_requires=[
         'Requests>=2.2.0',
         'six>=1.4.0',
+        'pyopenssl>=0.15.1',
+        'backoff>=1.10.0'
     ],
     test_suite='tests',
     tests_require=[
diff --git a/tests.py b/tests.py
index e8c1d4c..c2c2550 100644
--- a/tests.py
+++ b/tests.py
@@ -6,6 +6,7 @@
 
 import unittest
 
+import os
 import six
 import httpretty
 
@@ -13,6 +14,8 @@
 from opencage.geocoder import InvalidInputError, RateLimitExceededError, UnknownError, ForbiddenError, NotAuthorizedError
 from opencage.geocoder import floatify_latlng, _query_for_reverse_geocoding
 
+# reduce maximum backoff retry time from 120s to 1s
+os.environ['BACKOFF_MAX_TIME'] = '1'
 
 class OpenCageGeocodeTestCase(unittest.TestCase):
     def setUp(self):