52 all-time KCBS records — every one with a holder, a number, and the date it was set, read out of 97 scored contests and 15,711 result rows. Beat one and you appear here the next morning.
Overall scores are only ever ranked against their own series — Master out of 720, Backyard out of 360 — so the overall-score records here are Master boards unless they say Backyard. The Backyard series keeps a full record board of its own.
State and provincial record books are here; outside North America, every country has its own page under Regions →
Showing the AR record book — every record below counts only contests held in AR. Records that can't honestly be cut by state are left out rather than shown with their national holder: power ratings, career streaks and Team of the Year are computed over a team's whole career, wherever they cooked it.
The biggest — and smallest — numbers anybody has ever put in front of six judges.
Bad Dog BBQ at Downtown Jonesboro BBQ Festival Sep 26, 2025
26-team field · won the contest
Four meats, six judges, one afternoon. The biggest total anybody has ever assembled.
THE DOUBLE "S" SMOKEHOUSE at Esperanza Bonanza Oct 22, 2021
won the board
The Backyard board runs on its own scale, so it keeps its own record — pooled with Master it would never surface at all.
QUETPIES at Delta Smoke BBQ Contest (JUDGES FULL) Jun 7, 2013
won the category with it
Held jointly by 10 or more — nobody has beaten it.
The best chicken anybody has ever turned in. 180 is the ceiling — every judge at the table handing back a nine — so a tie goes to whoever got there first.
HOG TIDE BAR-B-QUE at Bucks, Ducks & BBQ Jul 18, 2014
won the category with it
Held jointly by 10 or more — nobody has beaten it.
The best pork ribs anybody has ever turned in. 180 is the ceiling — every judge at the table handing back a nine — so a tie goes to whoever got there first.
WHISKEY PIT BBQ COMPANY at Bikes Blues & BBQ Sep 20, 2013
won the category with it
Held jointly by 10 or more — nobody has beaten it.
The best pork anybody has ever turned in. 180 is the ceiling — every judge at the table handing back a nine — so a tie goes to whoever got there first.
THE AMERICAN DREAM BBQ at Bikes Blues & BBQ Sep 20, 2013
won the category with it
Held jointly by 10 or more — nobody has beaten it.
The best brisket anybody has ever turned in. 180 is the ceiling — every judge at the table handing back a nine — so a tie goes to whoever got there first.
Kermit's Ex at Hayden West's Delta Smoke BBQ Contest Jun 6, 2025
finished 2nd, behind Petie's Smokin Pits BBQ
A day this good takes a Grand Championship almost anywhere. These are the ones that ran into somebody having a better one.
Survivor-Que at 10th Annual Gillett Heritage Days Festival BBQ cook off May 25, 2018
and still beat 17 other teams
The days the judges gave nothing away. Somebody still had to win, and this is the smallest number that ever did it in a real field.
Hayden West's Delta Smoke BBQ Contest Jun 6, 2025
30 teams · won with 711.9772
What it cost to walk. At these contests a total that wins most weekends was only good enough for tenth.
Sam's Club National BBQ Tour Championship Oct 9, 2015
50 teams · top score 702.8344
Judging tables are not interchangeable. At these contests the whole field scored high — not just the winner.
Downtown Jonesboro BBQ Festival Sep 25, 2015
38 teams · even the win only took 708.0456
The other end of the same measurement: the contests where hardly anybody got a good card all day.
GETTIN' BASTED Mar 13, 2026
25 contests · best 709.1316
Anyone can catch one good day. This is the highest anybody has averaged across a real career.
DAD'S GRILLIN CREW at BBQ & Blues on the Levee Oct 7, 2016
over Sizziling Bones
Not a contest so much as an exhibition — the runner-up in each of these was closer to tenth than to the winner.
501 BBQ at Smokin on the White Sep 15, 2017
over Survivor-Que
A whole weekend — four meats, twenty-four judging cards — decided by a rounding error.
Grand Championships, reserve finishes, dynasties and droughts.
GETTIN' BASTED Oct 1, 2021
from 25 contests · first in 2015
The headline record of the sport: how many times a team has walked away with the whole thing.
RAZORRACKS Sep 27, 2024
from 58 contests · 3 titles
Second overall is the hardest place to finish. These teams have done it more than anybody.
HABITUAL SMOKERS Jul 8, 2016
across 18 contests, still waiting
Held jointly by 2 — nobody has beaten it.
The cruellest record in the book. Every team here has stood on the stage second, and never once first.
GETTIN' BASTED Mar 13, 2026
8 titles from 25 contests
Winning often matters more than winning a lot. This is how often a team turns up and takes the whole thing.
HOG TIDE BAR-B-QUE Sep 20, 2013
the 2013 season
Held jointly by 9 — nobody has beaten it.
The best year anybody has ever had. Four in a season is a career year; these went past it.
GETTIN' BASTED Oct 1, 2021
8 titles in all
Held jointly by 2 — nobody has beaten it.
A dynasty at one contest is one kind of record. Winning at thirty different ones is another kind entirely.
FIRE DANCER BBQ at Go Hog Wild Arkansas BBQ Championship Oct 5, 2018
won 2015–2018
The contest a team has made their own — turning up every year and taking it home again.
FIRE DANCER BBQ at Go Hog Wild Arkansas BBQ Championship Oct 7, 2016
2015–2016, straight
Held jointly by 2 — nobody has beaten it.
Defending a title once is an achievement. Nobody on this board gave one up willingly.
Heavy Smoke BBQ at KCBS World Invitational Barbeque Championship Feb 8, 2019
won it with 703.9656
Every Grand Championship counts the same in the standings. Not every one means beating this many people.
Kermit's Ex at Go Hog Wild BBQ Oct 6, 2023
the title finally came in 2023
Held jointly by 2 — nobody has beaten it.
Proof it is worth going back. Every team here cooked for years before the call finally came.
GETTIN' BASTED Oct 1, 2021
2015 → 2021 · 8 titles
Staying good is harder than getting good. These teams were winning contests more than a decade apart.
JANKY LEG BBQ Mar 31, 2023
in 1 state
Held jointly by 2 — nobody has beaten it.
Some contests hand out a state championship alongside the trophy. These teams have collected the most of them.
The four meats: who wins them, and who has been handed a flawless card.
FIRE DANCER BBQ Sep 29, 2023
across all four meats
Every category win is a walk to the stage. This is the longest walk in the sport.
HOG TIDE BAR-B-QUE Sep 12, 2014
the 2014 season
Held jointly by 2 — nobody has beaten it.
One team, one year, and a stack of first-place calls that would furnish most careers.
RAZORRACKS Oct 10, 2025
in 4 different meats · first in 2015
A 180 means all six judges handed back a nine for appearance, taste and tenderness. These teams have collected them.
Bad Dog BBQ at Downtown Jonesboro BBQ Festival Sep 26, 2025
Brisket, Chicken, Pork Ribs
One perfect card is a story worth retelling. Two before the awards ceremony is a record.
JANKY LEG BBQ Oct 21, 2022
the 2022 season
A whole year of turning in boxes nobody at the table could mark down.
JANKY LEG BBQ at Smokin' for Down Syndrome Mar 31, 2023
first in 2022 · 29 contests to complete the set
Held jointly by 3 — nobody has beaten it.
A perfect card in chicken, ribs, pork AND brisket. The date is the day the set was completed; the board is led by whoever needed the fewest contests to finish it.
QUETPIES at Delta Smoke BBQ Contest (JUDGES FULL) Jun 7, 2013
Chicken · Jun 7, 2013
Where the 180 club starts. These are the oldest perfect cards anywhere in the data.
Hayden West's Delta Smoke BBQ Contest Jun 6, 2025
shared by 8 teams in a field of 30
Some tables run hot. At these contests the judges handed out flawless cards all afternoon.
Longevity — the teams who keep turning up, and keep turning it in.
FIRE DANCER BBQ Mar 13, 2026
2013 → 2026
Before anything else, competition barbecue is showing up. Nobody has shown up more often than this.
FIRE DANCER BBQ Mar 13, 2026
2013 → 2026 · 67 contests
Rigs wear out and cooks retire. These teams were still turning in boxes more than a decade after their first one.
FIRE DANCER BBQ Mar 13, 2026
67 contests, 2013 → 2026
Not just a long career — a busy one, season after season, with no quiet years in the middle.
BLIND HOG BBQ Dec 31, 2019
2013 → 2019, no gaps
Held jointly by 10 or more — nobody has beaten it.
An unbroken run. Every single year, the rig came back out of the shed.
FIRE DANCER BBQ Oct 8, 2015
the 2015 season · 2 titles
Held jointly by 4 — nobody has beaten it.
A season spent almost entirely in a parking lot somewhere, next to a smoker.
FIRE DANCER BBQ Sep 27, 2024
from 67 contests
Held jointly by 2 — nobody has beaten it.
The measure of a team that is always in it — not always winning, but always there at the end of the day.
GETTIN' BASTED Mar 13, 2026
21 from 25 contests
Consistency, stated as a percentage. Turn up, and this is how often you were still standing at the end.
FIRE DANCER BBQ at Delta Smoke BBQ Contest Jun 10, 2022
2013 → 2022 · won it 1×
Held jointly by 8 — nobody has beaten it.
The contest a team never misses — on the calendar in ink, every single year.
Records held by the contests themselves rather than by the teams.
KCBS World Invitational Barbeque Championship Feb 8, 2019
won with 703.9656
The largest gathering of smokers the data has ever recorded in one place.
Delta Smoke BBQ Contest Jun 10, 2022
2013 → 2022 · about 43 teams a year
The institutions. These contests have been feeding judges for as long as the data goes back.
Sam's Club National BBQ Tour Championship Sep 30, 2016
4 editions · biggest 50
One big year is a fluke. These contests pull a crowd every single time they run.
Delta Smoke BBQ Contest Jun 10, 2022
from 9 editions with a champion on file
The contests nobody owns. Turn up here and last year counts for nothing.
Saracen Casino Smoke on the Water Oct 21, 2022
47 teams cooking for it
Held jointly by 3 — nobody has beaten it.
What was actually on the table. Listed purses only — KCBS does not publish who took home which slice of it.
Sep 26, 2014 Sep 26, 2014
across 1 states and provinces
Held jointly by 3 — nobody has beaten it.
One Saturday, this many contests, every one of them lighting a fire at the same hour.
The 2016 season Oct 7, 2016
across 1 states and provinces
The high-water mark for the sport itself — the year the calendar was fullest.
Somebody has to run the table. These are the ones who have run the most.
Karen Jane Williams Oct 10, 2025
2019 → 2025
Held jointly by 2 — nobody has beaten it.
The people who make a contest a contest — table captains, score checkers, keepers of the rulebook.
Karen Jane Williams Oct 7, 2022
the 2022 season
Held jointly by 4 — nobody has beaten it.
Thirty contests in a year means most of a summer spent beside a scoring table.
Karen Jane Williams Oct 10, 2025
at 11 contests
Held jointly by 2 — nobody has beaten it.
How many separate teams have taken a Grand Championship at a contest this rep was running.
| Team | GCs this season |
|---|---|
| MUNNY'S STOVE | 1 |
| Year | Series | Team | Points |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2026 ↗ | Backyard | DAWGS BBQ 🏆 | 1,356 |
| 2026 ↗ | Master | JANKY LEG BBQ 🏆 | 2,682 |
| 2025 ↗ | Backyard | Electro-Que-ted 🏆 | 1,414 |
| 2025 ↗ | Master | GETTIN' BASTED 🏆 | 2,826 |
| 2024 ↗ | Backyard | WEEZ'S GROOVIN' BBQ 🏆 | 1,404 |
| 2024 ↗ | Master | CHUNKY BBQ 🏆 | 2,734 |
| 2023 ↗ | Master | JANKY LEG BBQ 🏆 | 2,773 |
| 2022 ↗ | Master | Uncle Pig's Barbeque Pit 🏆 | 2,761 |
| 2021 ↗ | Master | GETTIN' BASTED 🏆 | 2,804 |
| 2020 ↗ | Master | GETTIN' BASTED 🏆 | 2,670 |
| 2019 ↗ | Master | B-S BBQ OUTLAWS 🏆 | 2,774 |
| 2018 ↗ | Master | GETTIN' BASTED 🏆 | 2,840 |
| 2017 ↗ | Master | CLARK CREW BBQ 🏆 | 2,850 |
| 2016 ↗ | Master | PORKY BUTTS BBQ 🏆 | 2,846 |
| 2015 ↗ | Master | CLARK CREW BBQ 🏆 | 2,843 |
| 2014 ↗ | Master | WARREN COUNTY PORK CHOPPERS 🏆 | 2,936 |
| 2013 ↗ | Master | WARREN COUNTY PORK CHOPPERS 🏆 | 2,940 |
| 2013 ↗ | Master | TRUEBUD BBQ 🏆 | 2,940 |
| Category | Entries | Avg score | Avg winning score | Perfect 180s | 180s per 1,000 entries |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Brisket toughest room | 3,009 | 163.94 | 177.91 | 34 | 11.3 |
| Pork Ribs | 3,112 | 165.01 | 177.67 | 20 | 6.4 |
| Pork | 3,061 | 165.79 | 178.07 | 46 | 15 |
| Chicken | 3,036 | 166.77 | 178.47 | 55 | 18.1 |
Sorted by average score — the category at the top scores lowest across the whole field, which usually means the judges are hardest to please there.