Which side of a cocktail cab is player 1?

[quarterback]

My guess is, as you're looking at the side of the cab with the coin door, that the CP to your right is player 1, but I don't even have a monitor in my cab, let alone MAME set up so I can check, so I thought I'd ask.   Is that correct?

[holdennut]

Player 1 on my cocktail cab is on the left.

[quarterback]

Interesting... I wonder if I picture Player 1 on the right because of where my cab is currently jammed into a corner....   

When I look at your picture, that looks "correct" but I've got it in my head that it's the right side that's player 1... I just can't remember how the original cocktail cabs were set up.

Thanks for the reply, holdennut

[markrvp]

On all the Midway cocktail cabs I played, the P1 CP is left of the coin door like in the picture above.  I own a Pacman cocktail cabinet and it is the same way.

This also follows logic as most people are right handed and it is easier to put the coin in the coin door with their right hand when sitting on the left side.

[missioncontrol]

This also follows logic as most people are right handed and it is easier to put the coin in the coin door with their right hand when sitting on the left side.

yeah kind of like those ramps they build for the handicapped

[maxlamer]

All the table top machines i remember had the coindoor on the player1 side not on the end. Also one and two player games were selected from the player 1 control panel.

Add to that the bottom of the screen on Galaga is opposite to the bottom of the screen on 1942 when emulated in mame, so whatever orientation you choose you may need to flip the screen for some games.

When looking at the screen as if it had been setup for horizontal games, the bottom of the screen while playing galaga/galaxian/pacman is "right" or for 1942 is "left"

[quarterback]

On all the Midway cocktail cabs I played, the P1 CP is left of the coin door like in the picture above.  I own a Pacman cocktail cabinet and it is the same way.

This also follows logic as most people are right handed and it is easier to put the coin in the coin door with their right hand when sitting on the left side.

Dig it.   Makes sense to me.    It's funny, I have a very distinct memory of playing a cocktail cab when I was ~13.  I think it was the first cocktail cab I'd ever seen and it was while I was out to dinner with my parents and it was in the bar.  I can picture the scene in my mind and I swear I was sitting at the other end (to the right of the coin door).   Funny the kind of things that stick in your brain, but I thought it was the coolest thing ever because, even though I'd been playing a lot of games at the arcade, I'd never even thought of there being a game laid into a table!

the bottom of the screen on Galaga is opposite to the bottom of the screen on 1942 when emulated in mame, so whatever orientation you choose you may need to flip the screen for some games.

When looking at the screen as if it had been setup for horizontal games, the bottom of the screen while playing galaga/galaxian/pacman is "right" or for 1942 is "left"

Interesting.  That's kind of what I was wondering as well.  Thanks for the info.

[Sinner]

I have a MS Pacman cocktail, and player 1 is the side with the player start buttons on it...not sure if it's left or right when facing the coindoor...never really thought of it...