I just got the joystick & button parts. Here’s what the set looks like:

I bought X-Arcade’s “Arcade Bundle” set. You get 2 joysticks, 18 black buttons, and 2 Player One/Two white buttons, all for $35. Not too bad, especially since all of them use nice mechanical switches. The joysticks are quite robust, too. Real arcade quality.

For the Maze Table project, I’ll use a joystick, the Player buttons, and maybe another button or two. That will leave me with a spare stick and about 18 buttons. I wonder what I can do with those…

Update: Since I have the joystick, I might as well finish up the playing field.

Above you see the 15″ x 15″ playing field, with neon colored pipe cleaners as the maze edges. I used Loctite PowerGrab (similar to Liquid Nails) to outline the maze, and then pressed the pipe cleaners into the adhesive.

If you are doing a small project, and don’t want to bother with a caulk gun, then get the pressurized can of PowerGrab. It’s self contained, with a little lever to dispense the adhesive. It costs a premium over the regular stuff, but it’s great for small projects like this and is very easy to deal with.