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How to Rotate the Menu on a Cocktail Arcade Table

A cocktail arcade table is a horizontally mounted arcade recessed inside a glass table with a space for two players to sit on opposite sides, each with his own set of controls. During turn-based game play, the display will automatically rotate to face the active player. However, the table has a default internal orientation, and the initial menu screen will always face in one direction. During single-player mode, the console assumes that the player is always sitting in this spot. Although cocktail-style arcade tables are no longer widely commercially available, many people have constructed a homemade version powered by an open source freeware program called MAME, which let you manually rotate the main menu to face the other player.

Things You'll Need

Cocktail arcade table
MAME software

Instructions

Rotating Default Screen Display
- 1
  Exit the game and navigate to the MAME menu.
- 2
  Select "Video Options" in the menu.
- 3
  Select "Rotate" until the menu is aligned in the desired direction.
Troubleshooting
- 4
  Ensure that MAME is configured for cocktail mode. To change between standard and cocktail mode, look in the main menu. Open the "Dip Switch" menu and select "Cabinet Type." In this screen you can move back and forth between upright and cocktail mode.
- 5
  Check that all the controls are properly assigned for Player 2. Within the game, press "Tab" to access the control menu. Select "Input: This Game" to see how the controls have been assigned.
- 6
  Check the capabilities of your graphics card. Many MAME arcade tables are powered by older PCs--that's perfectly acceptable because many arcade games are older and not very demanding on a system. However, to be able to rotate the menu, the graphics card needs to support screen rotation.

Classic Console Games