Uploaded January 2015 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago
This is footage of Control Video Corporation's GameLine Master Module running, recorded by Dan Skelton circa late 1983.
GameLine was a service offered by Control Video Corporation that allowed you to download games to the VCS/2600 over regular phone lines via the use of their GameLine Master Module. The complete kit contains the Master Module (an 8K RAM cartridge with internal 1200 baud modem), telephone connecting cord, a duplex T-adapter, owner's manual, registration guide, GameLine membership cards, and "temporary" game directory & instructions. It originally sold for $49.95 and there was a one-time membership fee of $15. Charges were about $.10 a game or $1 for up to an hour of play. Contest games were $1 and there was a $.50 charge to enter a score. Once it connected, it downloaded the menu program to the battery-backed 2K of RAM. A title screen appeared and "Assembly of Trumpeters For Reveille (First Call)" played. Next, a screen appeared for you to enter a 3-digit number for your ID, and after that another screen where you selected the game you wanted via a 3-digit number, or you could enter 999 for a special "browse" menu. Once the game loaded, a screen would appear with both the game's name and the company who made it, and a tune very similar to the German Army WWI bugle call "No. 2 Battery" played. On your birthday, a screen would appear with the message, "Happy Birthday! All of your play today is free!" while the first 2 bars of "Happy Birthday" played. One of the game catalogs that was archived lists 76 games which included Save The Whales - a game long thought to be vaporware until it was found years later. The GameLine system became QuantumLink (also known as Q-Link), an online service for Commodore computer users, which became America On-Line, the most successful online service ever.
For more information, read Dan Skelton's GameLine article at the Atari Compendium website:
ataricompendium.com/archives/articles/gameline/gameline.html
This is footage of Control Video Corporation's GameLine Master Module running, recorded by Dan Skelton circa late 1983.
GameLine was a service offered by Control Video Corporation that allowed you to download games to the VCS/2600 over regular phone lines via the use of their GameLine Master Module. The complete kit contains the Master Module (an 8K RAM cartridge with internal 1200 baud modem), telephone connecting cord, a duplex T-adapter, owner's manual, registration guide, GameLine membership cards, and "temporary" game directory & instructions. It originally sold for $49.95 and there was a one-time membership fee of $15. Charges were about $.10 a game or $1 for up to an hour of play. Contest games were $1 and there was a $.50 charge to enter a score. Once it connected, it downloaded the menu program to the battery-backed 2K of RAM. A title screen appeared and "Assembly of Trumpeters For Reveille (First Call)" played. Next, a screen appeared for you to enter a 3-digit number for your ID, and after that another screen where you selected the game you wanted via a 3-digit number, or you could enter 999 for a special "browse" menu. Once the game loaded, a screen would appear with both the game's name and the company who made it, and a tune very similar to the German Army WWI bugle call "No. 2 Battery" played. On your birthday, a screen would appear with the message, "Happy Birthday! All of your play today is free!" while the first 2 bars of "Happy Birthday" played. One of the game catalogs that was archived lists 76 games which included Save The Whales - a game long thought to be vaporware until it was found years later. The GameLine system became QuantumLink (also known as Q-Link), an online service for Commodore computer users, which became America On-Line, the most successful online service ever.
For more information, read Dan Skelton's GameLine article at the Atari Compendium website:
ataricompendium.com/archives/articles/gameline/gameline.html
