Exit button. Any ideas?

[monkey puzzle]

I'm designing/building my first cab and I can't quite think what to do for a button to exit the game back to the frontend menu.

I have a relatively small control panel with 2 player sticks and buttons. I haven't built panel yet but I think I will put a spinner in between player 1 and 2. I will put each players start button above his/her controls. As it's a small control panel I don't really want any other admin buttons to clutter the control panel unless I have to. I'm going to use fake coin slot buttons on the coin door for credit. Pause isn't really important to me so I will probably just use the player 1/2 start button as a shift key for pause etc. I don't really want to use the shift function for exiting the game because I want friends to be able to exit as easily as possible without any knowledge of how to do so. Also I don't really like those admin panels under the monitor.

I can't think where I can put an exit button, any ideas?

[Savannan]

if you dont want a extra button popping out of your cabinet, then the shift function on the jpac works very well... i had my exit button on my last cab shifted to the ENTER button.  never had a prob exiting.  drilling a hole somewhere on your CP or cab is irreversable...

[Donkbaca]

I would get a red 24mm seimitsu like this one:
http://www.paradisearcadeshop.com/en/255-red-seimitsu-ps-14-dnk-24mm-pushbutton.html

and put it smack in the middel at the top of the CP between players 1 and 2.  Its smaller than a regular button, and something about a red button makes it easy to understand that its an exit.  If you want smaller, get an 18mm sanwa button:
http://www.paradisearcadeshop.com/en/sanwa-18mm-snap-in/150-translucent-microswitch-pushbuttons.html

Just to give you an idea, the plunger on the 18mm buttons is about the size of the buttons on an xb 360 controller, (i know because I modded mine with an xbox 360 button)

I would stay away from shifts, people find them confusing and you always run the chance of accidently exiting a game

[Thenasty]

I say build the CP first without the EXIT button. I'm sure when the CP is built, you wil see a good spot where you can put a button for EXIT.

[Woodshop Flunky]

I have a small CP and I put the Exit and Pause button above the spinner.  Like you, I didn't want to clutter the CP with admin buttons, so I only have two, and I used a different style button than the player buttons (smaller volcano buttons).  There are other smaller buttons also you can use for the admin stuff.

I didn't think I wanted a pause button either, and actually put one on more for aesthetics (to balance the Exit button).  After playing it for about 5minutes I was glad I had a Pause.  In an arcade there are not any "life" distractions, but at home... there is always something... phone rings, kid starts crying, knock at the door, bathroom break...

[monkey puzzle]

I don't want to use shift funtion for exit, because then it would not be obvious for other people playing, and I don't really want to include an instruction panel.

I wish I could have the exit button somewhere else on the cab, but I can't really think of anywhere that would look right.

I think that having smaller buttons on the cp is probably my best option. Thanks for suggesting this because it's not something I thought about before. I especially like the volcano buttons Woodshop Flunky. They look good on your cab, they are easily distinguishable from the action buttons, and they don't look like they could be accidenly pressed. I think this is the route I am going to take. Where did you get these buttons from?

[Woodshop Flunky]

I got mine on ebay... but I can't find the seller anymore.  Warning... they are not cheap! 

I know Ram Controls carries them, but you only have to look about half a second to see what's going one with that company.

I'd post a request here for sources.

[Woodshop Flunky]

I found the cones, but not the switches...

http://cgi.ebay.com/3-NEW-Atari-LED-switch-cones-tall-black-aluminum-/250780311393?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item3a63abdf61

[monkey puzzle]

Ha ha, I was just looking at the same thing on UK Ebay. So the cones are always bought seperately to the buttons?

[Woodshop Flunky]

Ha ha, I was just looking at the same thing on UK Ebay. So the cones are always bought seperately to the buttons?

The cones are easy to reproduce.  I think the buttons are out of production and are harder to find.

[JustMichael]

I use the same button to enter the game from the frontend and exit back to the frontend.  As for the pause button, your bladder will thank you for it. 

[mgb]

I'm not sure what your cabinet design is, but on my design I couldn't spare the extra room for exit and pause buttons on my control panel so I put them in an over under fashion to the left of the coin door kind of like a pinball start button would be

[ghettodish]

My black cab uses P1+P2 together to exit. My Donkey Kong has 2 buttons wired in series above the marquee on each top corner.

[jsb98]

Put your exit button in a different colour from the rest, red is the most obvious for exit. It's the sort of colour that you look at and think "I don't know what it does, but I probably don't want to find out because it could be something bad", meaning your friends are unlikely to try and press it during playing. Put it in the top-middle between Player 1 and Player 2, but make sure to have them far apart if you do that, so people don't accidentally hit exit instead of Player 1. It could happen.
A pause button is definitely a good idea. Whenever I play games with friends, there's always a time when somebody wants to pause.
If you don't want a shift button, just use a combo of two buttons instead.

Good luck with your cab.

[Woodshop Flunky]

... "I don't know what it does, but I probably don't want to find out because it could be something bad", meaning your friends are unlikely to try and press it during playing.

You must have more disciplined friends than me.    When we started playing my cab... I swear people acted like they were getting paid to mash buttons.

[jsb98]

You must have more disciplined friends than me.    When we started playing my cab... I swear people acted like they were getting paid to mash buttons.

Well, not really, but they still would presume if there's a big red button in the top middle that it is an exit button. I think. You could just tell them.

[JRChristenson]

...drilling a hole somewhere on your CP or cab is irreversible...

Nothing is irreversible, it's just that some reversals are more difficult than others. 

[emb]

Check these little guys out:
http://na.suzohapp.com/pushbuttons/49057700.htm

If you are concerned about space, it also may be worth considering throwing the exit button on the underside of the control panel, or by the coin slots (if your cab has them).

[monkey puzzle]

If you are concerned about space, it also may be worth considering throwing the exit button on the underside of the control panel, or by the coin slots (if your cab has them).

I was thinking of putting them near the coin slots, but I was concerned that they might accidently be pushed with knees. What do you think?

[mgb]

If you are concerned about space, it also may be worth considering throwing the exit button on the underside of the control panel, or by the coin slots (if your cab has them).

I was thinking of putting them near the coin slots, but I was concerned that they might accidently be pushed with knees. What do you think?

Depending on your cab's design, I don't think that will be a huge issue. Mine are by the coin door and I have it set up so there are 2 buttons, one over the other, press the top one for pause and press both for exit.
I may be wrong, but I thought you can also set up so that holding down player 1 start can act as exit.

[Well Fed Games]

My black cab uses P1+P2 together to exit. My Donkey Kong has 2 buttons wired in series above the marquee on each top corner.

Same thing for my current project (P1 & P2 together to exit to menu).

[newmanfamilyvlogs]

My black cab uses P1+P2 together to exit. My Donkey Kong has 2 buttons wired in series above the marquee on each top corner.

Same thing for my current project (P1 & P2 together to exit to menu).

Here as well. If my three year old can operate this combination just fine after being told once how to do it, I should imagine anyone could.

Are you labeling any of the buttons on your CP artwork? Put the word "Shift" in another color, in a smaller font, above P1. Then use the same font/color for "Exit" over P2. You can do the same thing for "Pause", "admin", etc. That removes extra buttons floating over the CP, minimize accidental presses, and integrates the instructions right in.

[Green Giant]

I guess I did mine a little different than others.

I have 2 red buttons about as far apart on my 2p control panel as I could get them.

They are wired up in series requiring both buttons to be pressed at the same time.  The philosophy behind this is that a single player can press both red buttons easily, but in a 2 player game it requires input from both players.

I didn't want bitter players to exit if they are losing.

[bradx]

You must have more disciplined friends than me.    When we started playing my cab... I swear people acted like they were getting paid to mash buttons.

Well, not really, but they still would presume if there's a big red button in the top middle that it is an exit button. I think. You could just tell them.

sure, the same way you could use a shifted function, like 1p + 2p to exit.  thats what i did and noone has ever had a problem with it.  i think a shifted function is preferrable to a dedicated button that is both unneccesary and could be hit by accident...

[monkey puzzle]

Maybe I'll go for shifted buttons then. I just realised that I would run out of inputs otherwise. Each U360 has 8 button inputs. I have 6 action buttons per player + player start + coin input + pause/exit. Too many inputs for my U360s.

[Spock]

Using Maximus Arcade, I have the same button for pause as the exit button.  You can set it up to exit after being held down for 3+ seconds.  There will always be some way that people can screw it up though  .

[Woodshop Flunky]

I know a lot of folks use the shift functions... but I still prefer a dedicated button.  Especially now that I've been playing with my son's arcade the past couple of weeks. 

I have everything labeled, so there is no explaining to guests (who are old enough to read ).  Also, I've had to reset my machine a bunch of times because my 1yr old has found some magic "shift" combination that either brings up an OS window, or a MALA window.  I'm actually going to have to disable or configure the shift so this sort of thing doesn't happen anymore.