University Challenge is a long-running New Zealand television quiz show, running originally from 1976 to 1989 before its revival in 2014 after a 25-year hiatus.

For example, one year, they gave each member of the winning team "an Apple Macintosh computer system, plus a BNZ campus pack account with a $500 credit balance".

[2] In July 2014, 25 years after TVNZ stopped producing University Challenge, Cue TV revived the show with station owner Tom Conroy as host.

[3] Some of the science questions were replaced with more populist material to enable greater involvement from the audience at home.

As with the British show, "starter" questions are answered individually "on the buzzer", and are worth 10 points.

The team answering a starter correctly gets a set of "bonus" questions worth a potential fifteen points, over which they can confer.

The pace of questioning gradually increases through the show, becoming almost frantic in the last minute or so before the "gong" which signals the end of the game.

In the event of a tied score at the sound of the gong, a "sudden death" question is to be asked (although in practice this has never occurred).

The format of the competition for its original run – with the exception of the debut season – was seven first-round matches, with each of the teams competing twice (having been randomly drawn against their opponents).

In the first season, the first round consisted of three knockout heats, the seventh team then competing with the highest-scoring losing side for the last semi-final position.

The show is broadcast in a split screen format, which led to a widespread rumour in the 1980s that the set was constructed so that one team was seated immediately above the other.

[2] Several team members from University Challenge have gone on to make a name for themselves in other fields, among them: The first series was filmed in Dunedin and screened on TV One in 1976.

The eighth was filmed in Dunedin in August 1983, and returned to TV One, screening on Sundays later in the same year.

The ninth series was filmed in Dunedin on 17–19 August 1984 and screened towards the end of the same year on TV One.

The eleventh series was filmed in Dunedin in August 1986 and screened between September and November on TV One.

The series was presented by Peter Sinclair with John Jones replacing Hal Weston as booth announcer.

The twelfth series was filmed in Dunedin on 19–21 August 1987 and screened towards the end of the same year on TV One.

The series was presented by Peter Sinclair with John Jones as booth announcer, and was produced and directed by Brian Stewart.

Uniquely among the original run of the show, there was a two-week gap between the broadcasting of two heats, to allow for a television special to be played on 25 October.

The thirteenth series was filmed in Dunedin in August 1988 and screened towards the end of the same year on TV One.

The series was presented by Peter Sinclair with John Jones as booth announcer, and was produced and directed by Brian Stewart.

The fourteenth and final series of the show's original run was filmed in Dunedin in August 1989 and screened towards the end of the same year on TV One.

The series was presented by Peter Sinclair with John Jones as booth announcer, and was produced and directed by Brian Stewart.

It was in a new round-robin format, hosted by Cue TV director Tom Conroy and produced by Sheree Carey.

Pool A consisted of Waikato and the three South Island teams (Canterbury, Lincoln, and Otago) and Pool B consisted of the remaining North Island teams (Auckland, AUT, Massey, and Victoria).