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elbow room
u_rebelscum:
FWIW, the hotrod is 23 3/4" wide with quite a bit of space around the left and right edges. Some people (gamepad console players, especially) have complained that the joysticks on the hotrod are too close, but they aren't too bad to me. BYO, or course, you can move the sticks farther apart than the hotrod's on your 22 1/2" CP and still have room on the sides.
Cardboard test it, definitely. Be sure to include testing the sides of you cab if the CP is inside it (like pacman) or maybe if it's like dhansen's or even PCC's. If you CP will be like, say, gauntlet, don't worry about the sides squeezing the two players together.
rhoelsch:
I've ghost played over paper before, and it did provide me with some good layout rules of thumb. Wound up printing about 4 control panels. Then I mounted in cardboard, and revised about 5 more times. Since you'll be playing longer when the controls are hooked up, cardboard catches a lot of things you miss. Consider the cp height, angle, wrist fatigue, and overall comfort playing as many different games as you can for a longer period of time. Nothing worse than a built cab that's uncomfortable for 75% of the games you'll want to play, even tho it's fine for the rest. Find a friend to help you "test" out the width, and at worst, measure how far your inside elbow will go with each stick vs. body placement of the other player. If you compensate for a cramped 2 player cp by angling your body, prepare to either be in pain after a while, or get ready for the idea of gettin' real cozy with your opponent.