OK, for all of you who have been talking joysticks get your credit cards out and get over to
http://sales.goldmine-elec.com/Search.asp and search out the word joystick. These IBM PC Jr joysticks seem perfect for our purposes! They have 2 100K pots inside, 2 buttons, "fine tune" adjustments for each axis and a spring disengage switch for each axis on the bottom. and you cannot beat the price - $1.79 each!!!
I just got a few myself and am going home tonight and rig it up.
I'll post the results tonight for ya'll...
...jp