Help with cocktail control panel design

[stephenp1983]

I am going to be getting a cocktail kit from arcade depot around Christmas time and wanted to input on the control panel.  There will be two 11 inch control panel on each side of the monitor for vertical type games.  My first thought was to have the player 1 and coin button on the left, a mag stick plus, and then four regular buttons.  My main concern is with the mag stick plus.

I want to play traditional four way games like ms pacman etc, but I'd almost like to play 8 way vertical games like 1942 or whatever.  I am concerned with the 8 way functionality of the mag stick plus.  Is it going to be a problem for any 8 way vertical games I'm going to play.

Also should I go with only 3 buttons instead of four? Are there any vertical games that use 4?  Here is an example of the lay out.

[Green Giant]

Also should I go with only 3 buttons instead of four? Are there any vertical games that use 4?  Here is an example of the lay out.

I found 6 that use 4 buttons,

Trivia Genius
Air Duel (Japan)
Pinball Action (set 1)
Super Breakout
Vanguard (SNK)
Trivia ? Whiz (Edition 2)

There are 297 that use 3 buttons or less.

[javeryh]

Go with 3 buttons max.  Also, don't waste space on the CP with admin buttons (at least not with the regular 1-1/8" ones).  You can put those anywhere (like running down the side of the cab or over the CPO or something).   

[stephenp1983]

What I was going to do for admin was just have  a shift button the on side and use the four buttons or whatever I setup with the mini pac.  So do you think I should put the coin and player 1 button elsewhere?

[stephenp1983]

bump, so what does everyone think of the magsticks plus.  Will I have problems with it for the 8 way vertical games

[unclet]

You can go with three buttons and then buy one of those new spinners which fit into a 1-1/8" standard button hole so you can also have a spinner.    Sounds like a good trade off to me ...... if you have the money to get one of course.....

[stephenp1983]

Thats a good idea, I will consider that

[heffe2001]

Atari volcano switches for admin buttons?  Save you some space...

[stephenp1983]

I'm not going to have but two buttons on the control panel other than the main ones, so space really isn't an issue.

[ArtsNFartsNCrafts]

I decided to have 3  buttons for my cocktail CP.  The only reason:  PUNCH-OUT!!!

Punch out is technically a horizontally oriented game, but given the dual-monitor design of the game, and my lack of two monitors that would fit in a cab, I'm just gonna go vertical on it, and eat the compromised resolution/aspect ratio.