Elite League () is a South Korean reality game show where students from prestigious universities in South Korea and abroad battle to solve brain quizzes. The first season premiered on November 3, 2023 on Coupang Play. The second season premiered on November 15, 2024 on Coupang Play. The third season premiered on December 12, 2025.
Concept The main concept of this television series features student representatives from several universities in South Korea. This event will test participants' abilities in mathematics, deduction and memorization which are packaged in the form of challenges. The participants perform missions of unprecedented difficulty, including mental arithmetic and arithmetic, reasoning and games, and superhuman memorization, and fight against each other without politics, betrayal, alliances, or deception, using only their brains and risking everything.
The full rules of the game are not announced in advance. In other words, after the first round, participants can know the full rules. This reality show applies the concept of elimination for any team that cannot complete the challenge and provide the correct answer. The introductory image of the eliminated team is shredded just before exit.
One round of college wars consists of an ace selection match, an ace match, a main match, and a death match. In season 2, ace selection match and ace match was replaced with benefit match. Ace Selection Match: Players from all surviving teams participate, and one person per team is selected as the ace (representative) on a first-come, first-served basis. Ace Match: The top player in the selection match nominates one of the other team's aces to play a 1:1 game. The winning team will receive a benefit that can be used in the main match. Benefit information is revealed after the explanation of the main match rules. Benefit Match: Players from all surviving teams participate will compete, and the best participant is determined through various problem-solving skills. The winning team will receive a benefit that can be used in the main match. Main Match: Players from all surviving teams participate, and all teams except the bottom two survive and advance to the next round. Death Match: The bottom two teams in the main match play will face the death match. The winning team advances to the next round, and the losing team becomes the final eliminated team of that round.
The finals will consist of a total of three main matches only, and the team that wins two rounds first will be the winner. In Season 1, the final winning university team will be provided with a scholarship of 10 million won per person, for a total of 40 million won. In Seasons 2 and 3, the final winning university will be provided with a scholarship of 20 million won per person, for a total of 80 million won.
Contestants For season 1, there are 5 teams with 4 students each representing various university. They will compete against each other in various rounds and questions to test their intelligence. The contestants are selected from among students at Seoul National University, Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology, Pohang University of Science and Technology, Yonsei University, and Korea University through a rigorous pre-test. In the second round after a team got eliminated, Korean or American-Korean students from Harvard University joined the show. In other words, there are actually a total of 6 participating teams and 24 participants.
+ List of contestants in Season 1, showing university, major, and notes University Contestant Major Notes Seoul National University Kyung Do-hyun Economics '23 Park Hyun-min Psychology '23 Song Hyun-seok Electrical and Information Engineering '22 Jung Hyun-bin Pre-Med '21 KAIST So Hyun-ji Technology Management '20 Yang Joon-hyuk Mathematical Sciences '20 Choi Seo-yeon Electrical and Electronic Engineering '20 Heo Sung-bum Computer Science '19 POSTECH Moon So-yul Engineering '23 Shin Jae-yoon Physics '20 Shin Min-sub Computer Engineering '19 Lee Hyun-soo Chemical Engineering '20 Yonsei University Kim Ki-hong Pharmacy '23 Park Na-yoon Pre-Dentistry '22 Son Ju-hyung Mechanical Engineering '22 Cho Hyun-jun Pre-Dentistry '22 Korea University Kim Jung-min Business Administration '22 Lee Dong-kyu Mathematics '19 Lee Ji-soo Physics '23 Chae Seung-min Statistics '21 rowspan="4" Harvard University David Kwak Mathematics '19 Janice Nam Applied Mathematics and Sociology '20 Ray Noh Mechanical Engineering '21 Sky Jung Computer Science '21
+ List of contestants in Season 2, showing university, major, and notes University Contestant Major Notes Seoul National University Jo Jun-hyeong Dentistry '24 Kim Gyu-min Mathematical Sciences '24 Yook Jun-hyeong Pre-Med '23 Woo Soo-han Electrical and Information Engineering '24 KAIST Park Ji-sung Electrical and Electronic Engineering '23 Oh Hyung-seok Computer Science '23 Choi Yu-chan Semiconductor Systems Engineering '23 Hwang Gi-hyeon Chemistry '22 POSTECH Jeon Ji-sung Semiconductor Engineering '24 Choi Jin-hyeon Electronic and Electrical Engineering '23 Ha Min-su Mathematics '20 Lee Ju-yeong Engineering '24 Yonsei University Park Se-hwan Pre-Dentistry '24 Yang Hyeon-seung Medicine '22 Lee Seung-chan System Semiconductor Engineering '22 Im Jeong-hoon Urban Engineering '24 Korea University Kang Ra-el Pre-Med '23 Seo Ha-eun Industrial and Management Engineering '22 Lee Hyeon-seung Medicine '20 Choi Seong-hyeon Fusion Energy Engineering '22 rowspan="4" Oxford University Choi Won-jin(Sunny Choi) Engineering '22 Ha Eun(Eun Hah) Mathematics & Computer Engineering '23 Lee Seung-chan(Kevin Lee) Philosophy, Politics & Economics '21 Jang Moon-hyeok(Joshua Chang) Computer Science & Philosophy '22 rowspan="4" MIT Heo Seo-yoon(Kelly Heo) Biotechnology '22 Lee Da-eun(Catherine Lee) Computer Engineering & Economics '22 Park Min-seok(Eli Park) Computer Engineering '23 Jeon Hyeon-woo(Daniel Jeon) Physics '23
+ List of contestants in Season 3, showing university, major, and notes Division University Contestant Major Notes STEM Seoul National University Kim Gang-hyun Industrial Engineering '21 Han Jong-yun Physics and Astronomy '24 Kim Dong-geon Mathematical Sciences '25 Song Myung-soo Energy Resources Engineering '25 KAIST Kang Ji-hoo Mathematics '22 Kim Jae-han Freshman Course '25 Kim Ji-woo Freshman Course '25 Jeon Ji-min Semiconductor Systems Engineering '22 POSTECH Hwang Seok-hun Mathematics '24 Je Seung-gyu Industrial and Management Engineering '24 Lee Jun-woo Computer Science '24 Park Seo-yeon Engineering '25 Medicine Seoul National University Lee Seung-hyun Pre-Med '25 Han Seo-yeon Pre-Med '24 Kim Min-seok Dentistry '23 Joo Min-seo Dentistry '25 Yonsei University Park Sang-yeon Medicine '22 Choi A-in Pre-Med '25 Lee Chung-seo Dentistry '25 Lee Yun-beom Dentistry '25 Sungkyunkwan University Kang Ji-hoo Pre-Med '25 Sung Tae-hoon Medicine '22 Kim Dong-yeon Medicine '22 Lee Dong-jae Pre-Med '23
Episodes
Game Summary + Game Summary of Season 1 Day Ace Selection Ace Match Main Match Death Match # Game Ace(s) Game Winner Game Winner Game Winner 1 1 – 2 Electronic Brain SNU Jung Hyun-bin Primary Number Check Jung Hyun-bin 300 YONSEI Formula Archery KAIST POSTECH Shim Min-sub KU KU Chae Seung-min SNU YONSEI Park Na-yoon KAIST POSTECH KAIST Heo Sung-bum 2 3 – 4 Perfect Number YONSEI Kim Ki-hong Balance Game rowspan="5" Janice Investigation Signal SNU Pixel Number YONSEI KAIST So Hyun-ji KU KU Lee Dong-kyu colspan="2" SNU Song Hyun-seok YONSEI KAIST Janice 3 5 – 6 Birth Date YONSEI Kim Ki-hong Blind Omok Jung Hyun-bin Silent Human Chess rowspan="4" SNU Match & Mix KU SNU Jung Hyun-bin Ray KU Lee Ji-soo 4 6 – 7 Trail of Dice All (SNU, KU, HARVARD) Relay Match SNU Find Me KU Rotation! Rock Paper Scissors SNU 5 8 Formula Safe SNU Exit Strategy KU Find Hidden Patterns SNU + Game Summary of Season 2 Day Benefit Match Main Match Death Match # Game Winner Game Winner Game Winner 1 1 – 3 Ace Selection SNU Kim Gyu-min Formula Puzzle SNU Investigation Signal 2 KAIST YONSEI POSTECH rowspan="1" colspan="3" Rock Paper Scissors Chess KAIST KU KAIST 2 4 – 5 Pyramid Game KAIST Blank CSAT KAIST Calculation Omok POSTECH SNU YONSEI colspan="3" 3 5 – 7 Blind Sudoku KAIST Hwang Gi-hyeon Exit Strategy 2 KAIST YONSEI Rainbow Sequence SNU 4 8 Decryption SNU KAIST 5 Triple Maze SNU Breaking the formula SNU
+ Game Summary of Season 3 Day Ace Selection Benefit Match Main Match Death Match Repechange # Game Ace(s) Game Winner Game Winner Game Winner Game Winner 1 1–2 Parallel Formula KAIST Jeon Ji-min Minority Decision SKKU Kang Ji-hoo Mining and Investment SNU MED Double-sided Bingo KAIST YONSEI SKKU Kang Ji-hoo SNU STEM SKKU 2 2–4 Between Numbers YONSEI Choi A-in 3 Part SNU STEM Song Myung-soo Exit Strategy 3 SNU STEM KAIST Mystery Poker SKKU SNU STEM Song Myung-soo SNU MED 3 4–5 Signal Investigation 3 SKKU SNU MED Lucky 21 SNU STEM Relay Match KAIST 4 6 The Average Dillema KAIST Block Omok SNU MED SKKU 5 7 Private Club SNU MED Clairvoyance Poker SKKU 6 8 Rainbow Chess SNU MED Formula Death Note SKKU Maze Craft SNU MED
Elimination Chart +Key Team that faced Death Match but survived Team that faced Death Match and eliminated Team that was eliminated in Death Match but revived in Redemption Round Team that won the round Team that lost the round The team advanced to the Ace Match but lost. Team that won the Ace/Benefit Match and received benefits for the main match + Elimination Chart of Season 1 University Day Rank 1 2 3 4 5 SNU IN IN IN DM KU IN IN DM IN 2nd place scope="row" IN IN ELIM 3rd place YONSEI IN DM ELIM 4th place KAIST DM ELIM 5th place POSTECH ELIM 6th place
+ Elimination Chart of Season 2 University Day Rank 1 2 3 4 5 SNU IN IN DM IN KAIST DM IN IN IN 2nd place YONSEI IN IN IN ELIM 3rd place POSTECH IN DM ELIM 4th place scope="row" IN ELIM 5th place scope="row" ELIM 6th place KU ELIM 7th place + Elimination Chart of Season 3 University Day Rank 1 2 3 4 5 6 SNU MED IN DM IN DM IN SKKU IN DM IN IN DM 2nd place KAIST DM IN RV IN ELIM 3rd place SNU STEM IN IN DM ELIM 4th place YONSEI IN ELIM 5th place POSTECH ELIM 6th place
Brain Games
Ace Selection Day 1: Electronic Brain
All participants solve problems presented at each school's base and enter their answers. The one participant from each school who answers the correct answer first and emerges from the main hall is selected as the ace. Electronic Brain is a mental arithmetic competition in which players add 10 three-digit numbers presented on the screen and enter the value as the correct answer. Participants in the base are prohibited from any conversation related to calculations. The game ends when all participants enter the correct answer.
Question 428 + 591 + 972 + 879 +919 + 174 + 342 +567 + 603 + 298 = Answer 5773 Rank University Contestant Rank University Contestant 1 SNU Jung Hyun-bin 11 SNU Kyung Do-hyun 2 POSTECH Shim Min-sub 12 POSTECH Lee Hyun-soo 3 KU Chae Seung-min 13 KU Lee Dong-kyu 4 YONSEI Park Na-yoon 14 SNU Park Hyun-min 5 POSTECH Moon So-yul 15 KAIST Yang Joon-hyuk 6 KAIST Heo Sung-bum 16 YONSEI Son Ju-hyung 7 SNU Song Hyun-seok 17 KAIST So Hyun-ji 8 POSTECH Shin Jae-yoon 18 KU Kim Jung-min 9 YONSEI Cho Hyun-jun 19 KU Lee Ji-soo 10 KAIST Choi Seo-yeon 20 YONSEI Kim Ki-hong
Day 2: Perfect Number
'Perfect Number' is a game where you have to find the right number in each blank space so that all seven sentences presented on the screen are true. The game ends when all participants answer correctly.
Question There is/are ( ) number(s) 1 in this problem. There is/are ( ) number(s) 2 in this problem. There is/are ( ) number(s) 3 in this problem. There is/are ( ) number(s) 4 in this problem. There is/are ( ) number(s) 5 in this problem. There is/are ( ) number(s) 6 in this problem.