Gamesmaster

GamesMaster was more of a games show than a game show involving two or three challenges per show. These challenges saw people come on the programme and playing a game (usually arcade or console). It was the first video games programme. One challenge per show involved a celebrity taking part and these challenges involved commentary by a non-entity from the video games press e.g. Dave "Games Animal" Perry.

Anyone who completed a challenge or got a better score than his or her opponent was presented with a Golden GamesMaster Joystick.

The series was presented by Scottish stand up comedian Dominik Diamond (who now is currently a reporter for the newspaper The Daily Star). However, Dexter Fletcher presented Series 3. (Dominik left the series because of its two-year sponsorship deal with McDonalds, but eventually returned in Series 4.)

The show also feature reviews of the latest games. Most episodes during the first four series saw kids come on the show and ask the Games Master: an animated floating head of astronomer Patrick Moore for tips and cheats on console games. The Games Master also introduced each challenge.

Series Settings

Each series had a different setting. These were:

Series 1 (early 1992) – Church Series 2 (1992/3) – Oil rig Series 3 (1993/4) – Prison Series 4 (1994/5) – Hell Series 5 (1995/6) – Heaven Series 6 (1996/7) – Atlantis Series 7 (1997/8) – Desert island

Interesting Facts

Each series also featured a different servant who brought people in, out, brought the GamesMaster Golden Joystick etc. These were:

Series 1 – Monk Series 2 – Diver Series 3 – Caretaker Series 4 – Goblins Series 5 – Angels Series 6 – Mermaids Series 7 – Girl Fridays

A GamesMaster computer magazine was launched. It is still published today despite the fact that the series is no longer on air anymore.