I built a Vertical CRT MAME cab. It has a 4 way joystick, 3 buttons, and a trackball. It looks like a Burgertime machine. I have a STUN runner dedicated cab, and a Defender dedicated cab.
I want to build a horizontal oriented MAME cab that covers a lot of games without getting silly. I have a 25 inch multisync CRT monitor ready to go, and a nice PC setup on the way courtesy of Yots.
I was thinking of modeling this one after a Konami 4 player cabinet. Wild West Cowboys of Moo Mesa would be cool if I can find the artwork.
I would, however like to tweak the control panel a bit. I would like to put the 4 joysticks inline. That way I could play Robotron, Smash TV (my son's favorite), and other games that require 2 joysticks. I would also add more action buttons for P1 and P2 to cover more games.
This might involve expanding the control panel surface area a bit. I am going to look up the measurements and start playing with cardboard control panels. If it gets too big I will leave them as is and just add some buttons to p1 and p2.
I regularly host parties at my house and my little arcade gets lots of use from adults all the way down to three year olds. I think a 4 player cabinet would get plenty of use.
I am open to suggestions, and I actually mean that.