What would be the best way to minimize this game and then bring it back into full screen without bugging out or crashing? Alt+tab just bugs out on me and I cant bring back into fullscreen.

Try alt+enter.

Using Alt+Enter I managed to jump out of fullscreen, but then upon return, VO crashes. Ubuntu 12.04 LTS.

Bug out confirmed. Alt + Enter does take it to windowed mode, but upon returning to full screen using the same keys or manually going into the menu and selecting full screen, it does bug out. The game does not respond to the keyboard, but it will respond to the mouse. You can still click "quit" and it works. Upon restart into full screen, it works fine.
Ubuntu 12.04 LTS, ATI 4870HD (Using 8.960 ATI driver), 4gd ram, Phenom x3 720 processor.

One of you should try upgrading to 14.04 and see if this is still the case.

And no, I won't. I like my arch install. heh

ATI 4870HD (Using 8.960 ATI driver)
This is going to make upgrading to a newer distro hurt... That card is supported by the open source drivers though.