

Name: Videomaster Home TV Game (model VM577)
Type: Dedicated console
Manufacturer: The Sales Team Ltd – London
Country: United Kingdom
Year: 1974
Launch: October 1974 (UK)
Original price/found prices: £49.95 (October 1974)
Games: 3 games
Technology: No CPU, discrete circuit with 17 TTL chips.
Availability: 1974 – 1975
Units: ~10,000 units?
Videomaster Home TV Game is a dedicated console by the British company The Sales Team Ltd., launched in 1974, being one of the first consoles released in Europe.
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History
As with many consoles from this era, information on the Videomaster Home TV Game is extremely scarce.
The Pong-Story website by David Winter mentions that the system appeared around late 1974, based on an early note on the first consoles, stating that technical details about the Videomaster would be released in early 1975.
So far, I have not found patents or public records about the design of the console to date it precisely, nor have I found the names of the designers.
Additionally, I couldn’t find much information regarding The Sales Team Ltd., based at 119/120 Chancery Lane, London, which later became Videomaster Ltd. in 1975.
I had more luck searching through British newspapers and publications. The earliest mention I found was dated October 16, 1974, in an article from the Kent Evening Post titled “What else can you do with a TV set?”, which explores the idea of using a television beyond regular programming.
The article mentions that 10,000 units were expected to be produced for Christmas at a price of £52.50, and that the demand was so high that the stock had already sold out, although consoles were starting to appear in stores.

Courtesy of British Newspapers Archive
And so it was. The console was being sold for £49.95 (or £1.47 per week for 39 weeks) through the Civic electronics store chains in October 1974. In the absence of an earlier mention, we can consider that the system was launched in that month.

Courtesy of British Newspaper Archive

Courtesy of World Radio History
The console, according to Pong-Story, was marketed in England, Germany, and France, although there is no solid evidence to suggest it was sold in the latter country beyond a mention in a 1983 French video game magazine as “the oldest console in Europe.”
The Videomaster VM577 was produced until 1975, when it was replaced by the Videomaster Home TV Game MK III and the Videomaster Olympic, with fairly minor changes regarding hardware.

Was it the first European console?
If by “first European console” we mean the first video game system sold in European territory, then no, it wasn’t.
The ITT Schaub-Lorenz began marketing the Magnavox Odyssey under the name “Odyssee” in October 1973. It was an imported Odyssey, adapted for the German market.

Additionally, the Odyssey was imported to the United Kingdom between 1973 and 1974 by the electronics company Wendaford, which essentially made amateur adaptations to the console so that it could be used with European receivers.

Courtesy of Pong-Story (David Winter)
Courtesy of the BBC
Was it the first console developed in Europe?
It is also not. Inter Electrónica, a renowned Spanish consumer electronics company, developed the Overkal console, a modified clone of the Magnavox Odyssey dating back to 1973. In a my research article, I provide a series of official records and documentary evidence supporting the idea that the system was developed and conceived during 1973.
However, the launch date is still disputed, with the console believed to have been released between February and June 1974, with February-March being the more likely period. Thus, the Overkal still precedes the Videomaster’s release by nearly a full year.


On the other hand, if we understand it as a system with a genuine design that is neither copied nor based on another system, then we could say that it was the first independently developed console in Europe. Unlike the Odyssey and the Overkal, which used simple electronic components such as transistors, capacitors, resistors, and diodes, the Videomaster employed 17 TTL chips to generate screen elements and collisions, using a simpler and more compact circuit board design compared to the Odyssey.

Features
The system was really simple. It played three games:
- Tennis
- Football
- Squash

Courtesy of Pong-Story
The players could be differentiated: one was solid white, and the other had vertical stripes. The edges of the playing field were also graphically represented in a soft color, making it an advanced console for its time. The players could be moved both horizontally and vertically, and the ball had a rebound angle.
Main Reference and Source of Interest
Videomaster Home TV Game on Pong-Story