1st build looking to find out what buttons needed.

[Hanedogg]

This is my 1st build. I am looking to build a 4 player control board with 3 button roller ball. Player 1 and 2 will have 6 buttons. 3 and 4 will have 4 buttons. Each player will have a player and credit button. My question is should i have an escape button and or a pause button if they exist? And what control board is best for this? Also i will be using all led buttons is there a seporate board i have to run for the to light up?

[Le Chuck]

Sounds great.  Yes there is pause and exit, pause is more optional than exit.  You probably want to hit up the wiki and start reading.  All of this is covered in other threads and the stickies.  You will need a separate controller for the LEDs also.  Groovy Game Gear and Ultimarc are good places to start.

[Hanedogg]

Sweet thank you. I was thinking of the paradise arcade products like the lono2 and thier led board. Any thought on those?

[Woodshop Flunky]

I only went with pause and exit buttons on my CP.

The pause seemed like a "cheat" at first, since I never had the luxury of pausing a game at the arcades as a kid.  But I'm really glad I added one!

When my wife needs help with one of the boys, she isn't impressed that I'm so close to beating my high score in Raiden.   

[Trip]

Are you doing RGB LEDs or just single color?  There is a RGB LED button review on this site that is excellent, I suggest starting there.

Lono2 is a good board, don't know about his LED board, but I would assume same quality.

You might want to take a look at the PACLED64 for LED lighting if you are going RGB.  Got a lot of outputs on it.

[Nephasth]

+1 for the Lono².

+1 for the PACLED64.

Both are great products.

[MacGyver]

I'm the weird one, I'm a minimalist (no admin buttons), yet every control I could get jammed into one panel.  I have pause, exit, and coin features, I just use unlikely button combinations to do it, so Player1 button 3 + Player1 Start equals Coin,  Player1 button 6 + Player1 Start equals Pause, both Player Start buttons pressed at the same time equals Exit.  I'm making an insert for the bezel with instructions though.

[consolas]

I'm the weird one, I'm a minimalist (no admin buttons), yet every control I could get jammed into one panel.  I have pause, exit, and coin features, I just use unlikely button combinations to do it, so Player1 button 3 + Player1 Start equals Coin,  Player1 button 6 + Player1 Start equals Pause, both Player Start buttons pressed at the same time equals Exit.  I'm making an insert for the bezel with instructions though.

That is awesome if you want to save $$ in buying buttons or save space. Kind of overkill if you stab every single button there and then use combinations eheh

[paigeoliver]

I have found that children find the unlikely button combos every single time, and from there they remap the controls and otherwise ruin the settings.

I put my admin buttons on the underside of the control panel, out of sight.

[the_gamer]

I really like the IPac I fell like it should be mentioned here.