Cheap/Compact Display Stand to Play Portrait Pinball on Any Monitor
Pinball is one of those games that's just begging to be played in portrait mode... real pinball machines are laid out this way, it makes simultaneous vision of the entire table possible, and it just looks nice. Well, if you have been in a similar situation to me, at least 1 of 2 problems may have arisen: A.) you do not presently have the space/funds/etc. for a dedicated digital pinball cabinet in your home and/or B.) your widescreen PC monitor does not rotate into portrait orientation (or support 3rd party VESA mounts which would add this functionality). Problem A can be mitigated by playing on your PC monitor in portrait orientation. Problem B can be easily resolved in the manner I've discovered, using the following inexpensive accessory*:
A compact, foldable electric guitar stand does the trick nicely. Specifically, the Ibanez PT32-BK Folding Stand. You can order it online through Amazon in the US or UK, or have your friendly local guitar shop order one in for you.
I've had one of these on hand for over 12 years... I've entrusted my ££££ electric guitars to sit upon it at live gigs, and at home with cats racing about. The thing weighs less than a pound, folds up nearly flat, and is very sturdy in my experience. Well, my silly 24" widescreen display has no rotation mechanism built into its non-detachable stand, no VESA mount for me to attach a 3rd party stand, and an oddly shaped curved back - in short, I've had a lot of difficulty playing pinball in portrait mode with it (requires serious jury rigging, which is impractical for spur-of-the-moment pinball sessions). Then it dawned upon me while practicing my guitar the other evening, that the stand it was sitting on might do the trick. And it works perfectly. It provides nearly instantaneous setup and takedown, doesn't eat up any space when not in use and, most importantly, holds my monitor with absolute stability in portrait mode without its rubber-coated feet covering any portion of the screen, nor interfering with any of the cabling on the back of the monitor. I imagine it should hold most any reasonably-sized PC monitor with a bezel up to 2" thick (I've never seen a flat panel PC display with a 2" thick bezel). The only limitation that I can think of is that it doesn't have much variety in its tilt angle... its pretty much fixed at a reclining angle of ~100/105 degrees (but most LCD monitors start to look odd from extreme off-centre angles anyhow).
I've attached some photos:
PinballFX2-PortraitOnGuitarStand.jpgPinballFX2-GuitarStandUnfolded.jpgPinballFX2-GuitarStandFolded.jpg
I hope this idea comes in handy for somebody else! Also, feel free to reply with any suggested setups of your own.
Cheers,
Jonny
*DISCLAIMER: I make no guarantees to, nor take responsibility for, the effectiveness, stability, safety, or otherwise, of the suggestions posted in this thread. Anybody making use of this information accepts full personal responsibility.
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However, I don't want to change the rotation every time I play pinball. If someone has two monitors or doesn't need his monitor for other computer activities apart from pinball your idea is great though. 
Originally Posted by MOKTango
