Format and Contestant selection

Every participating school sends two representatives to the show, preferably students who are within the last two years of elementary and high school stay. In short, they send a Grade 5 and 6 tandem in the Elementary Division while a Junior and Senior tandem (3rd Year and 4th Year, respectively) is being sent in the High School Division. In the event that any of the two original representatives cannot compete, the school is advised to prepare an alternate consisting of two students of each respective year or grade level. If the alternate wins with his/her teammate and the original contestant are fit enough to compete again, the alternate shall remain as the contestant competing for his/her school.

The Campus Challenge follows a three-stage format: A Weekly Face-Off round, The Semi-Final Round (known as the Challenger Round), and the Championship/Season Finale. Four schools per division compete against one another in every episode. Whoever scores the highest at the end of each episode is automatically declared the winner. In the weekly rounds, 9 teams per division advance to the Challenger Round, whereas in this round 3 teams per division advance towards the Championship/Season Finale. The remaining 3 spots in the Challenger Round and 1 spot for the Championship/Season Finale are considered as Wildcard Entries. These are the second-highest scoring teams per stage, which in the weekly rounds are likewise considered regardless of the ranking they have placed in their episode.

In the event of a tie after the conclusion of every episode, Knockout Questions are asked by the quizmasters themselves which do not require the teams looking at the game board. There were cases wherein a Wildcard entry spot has to fill, thus a best-of-5 series format was installed where the highest-scoring team secured such spot.

Gameplay

The show features a game board consisting of 12 different categories, 7 academic and 5 non-academic/practical/beyond curricular, each with 2 questions for a total of 24 questions. The categories are as follows:

Every quizmaster reads the question per category twice. At any point where the quizmaster reads the question, teams may choose to buzz in and give their answers. Each question is worth 10 points. Beginning the second season, 6 of the 12 categories are marked with a red and yellow border indicating that the second question is worth 20 points. This was done in light of the success of the first season and to level up the gaming field with tougher questions.

The game also features a formal 25th question, known as the Mystery Picture, where a picture of a famous personality is hidden under the game board tiles. The team who guesses this correctly earns additional points which will help them in securing a spot in the next round. The quizmasters read a total of 3 clues involving the personality, but are only read once every 4th and 8th tile is open. There were some occasions when this rule was not followed, hence, the quizmasters were given the freedom to choose when to read them. 60 points are awarded to the team who guesses the personality correctly with 1-4 tiles of the game board open, 40 if 5-8, or 20 if 9-12. The aim of every team/contestant is to score the highest number of points. 300 points (240 points per question + 60 points from the Mystery Picture) was the perfect score in the first season while 360 points (due to the addition of the 20 point questions) was used in the second season onwards.

Contestants stand in a podium consisting of a microphone, buzzer, pens and paper (to be used for MathTinikan and on occasions Word-O-Poly questions), and certificate holders (this was only used in the Challenger Round and the Championship/Season Finale). All of their buzzers are automatically locked, meaning that whoever buzzes first will be acknowledged by the quizmasters despite numerous attempts of the other schools to try pressing the buzzer. The other teams will be acknowledged if the first team who buzzes says a wrong answer or runs out of time answering the question. Teams will only be given one chance to answer the question, which goes by the rule: the first answer is the final answer.

Every team is only given a certain amount of time to answer such questions. For every category, 20 seconds is allotted for answering the question while 10 seconds is given when a team buzzes in and still doesn't have an answer. The MathTinikan category is an exception since given that teams have pens and paper provided, they will be given 60 seconds to answer. There were some occasions wherein Word-O-Poly questions had contestants answer a question for 30 seconds since it had to involve anagrams. These respective time limits were reduced in half when the Challenger Round and Championship/Season Finale was played.

There is also a technical committee, headed by the quiz show writer, where the quizmasters or even members of the audience can refer to when there are clarifications or protests concerning the overall gameplay of the episode. The show has always reiterated that coaching from the audience or even looking at other teams while the game is ongoing isn't allowed which puts the school and team at risk for disqualification.

Prizes and Segments

The main prize of the Campus Challenge is four free full-term merit scholarships to any of the programs offered at the University of Asia and the Pacific (UA&P) where the champions' tuition and miscellaneous fees are waived 100%. This is given to recognize the elementary and high school team's academic and beyond-curricular achievement in successfully winning all 3 stages of the show. Each of the teams that entered also received certificates of recognition and participation for their achievement entering the Challenger Round and Championship/Season Finale.

Although it was only applied in the first season, all that entered the Challenger Round and Championship/Season Finale also received prizes from sponsors, mainly from REX Book Store and Sterling Paper, consisting of reference materials and school supplies. REX Book Store has also sponsored the questions for the MathTinikan category until the second season, while car manufacturer Hyundai sponsored the questions for the SciTech category until the first season's third episode.

At the end of every weekly episode, there was a short-lived segment called The Campus Challenge Audience Quiz where the quizmasters ask the audience questions similar to the actual gameplay and awarded prizes to those who answered them correctly. The prizes come mostly from Gandalf Chocolates.

Episode Durations

List of Winners