54 all-time KCBS records — every one with a holder, a number, and the date it was set, read out of 258 scored contests and 46,800 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 CA record book — every record below counts only contests held in CA. 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.
B' Mackin BBQ at 21st Annual Burnt Offerings BBQ Contest Sep 12, 2025
35-team field · won the contest
Four meats, six judges, one afternoon. The biggest total anybody has ever assembled.
Double Trouble BBQ at Horse Town Brew N Que Festival Jun 3, 2022
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.
LEFT COAST Q at Silicon Valley BBQ Championships Jun 28, 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.
Burnin and Lootin at Horse Town Brew n Que Festival Jun 3, 2016
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.
Burnin and Lootin at Ribs, Pigs & Watermelons Aug 16, 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.
SMOKIN YANKEES at Smokin' on the Water Aug 23, 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.
Poppa Pig at 21st Annual Burnt Offerings BBQ Contest Sep 12, 2025
finished 2nd, behind B' Mackin BBQ
A day this good takes a Grand Championship almost anywhere. These are the ones that ran into somebody having a better one.
HOUSE OF Q at BBQ on the Bow Aug 31, 2013
and still beat 25 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.
21st Annual Burnt Offerings BBQ Contest Sep 12, 2025
35 teams · won with 718.8572
What it cost to walk. At these contests a total that wins most weekends was only good enough for tenth.
Roaring Camp BBQ Cook Off (Day 2) Aug 8, 2026
17 teams · top score 710.2628
Judging tables are not interchangeable. At these contests the whole field scored high — not just the winner.
Brentwood Cook Off and Car Show Aug 9, 2013
17 teams · even the win only took 662.1600
The other end of the same measurement: the contests where hardly anybody got a good card all day.
Cherry Anchor BBQ Aug 8, 2026
22 contests · best 713.7028
Anyone can catch one good day. This is the highest anybody has averaged across a real career.
Loco Smokers at IBEW So Cal BBQ & Chili Cook-Off (COMPETITOR SERIES) Jul 17, 2026
over Rubbed The Wrong Way
Not a contest so much as an exhibition — the runner-up in each of these was closer to tenth than to the winner.
Burnin and Lootin at 8th Annual Santa Anita Winners Circle BBQ Championship Day 2 Mar 30, 2019
over BIG POPPA SMOKERS
Held jointly by 2 — nobody has beaten it.
A whole weekend — four meats, twenty-four judging cards — decided by a rounding error.
Plus 3 championships where the top two finished dead level on points and the KCBS tiebreaker decided it — counted here rather than listed, because a board of identical 0.0000 margins says nothing about who nearly won what.
Grand Championships, reserve finishes, dynasties and droughts.
BIG POPPA SMOKERS Jul 8, 2022
from 105 contests · first in 2013
The headline record of the sport: how many times a team has walked away with the whole thing.
BIG POPPA SMOKERS Oct 6, 2023
from 105 contests · 24 titles
Second overall is the hardest place to finish. These teams have done it more than anybody.
My Smokin' Grillfriend Sep 18, 2015
across 26 contests, still waiting
The cruellest record in the book. Every team here has stood on the stage second, and never once first.
BIG POPPA SMOKERS Jun 14, 2024
24 titles from 105 contests
Winning often matters more than winning a lot. This is how often a team turns up and takes the whole thing.
LEFT COAST Q Aug 16, 2013
the 2013 season
The best year anybody has ever had. Four in a season is a career year; these went past it.
BIG POPPA SMOKERS Jul 8, 2022
24 titles in all
A dynasty at one contest is one kind of record. Winning at thirty different ones is another kind entirely.
Smokey and the Pirate at Smoke on the River Oct 14, 2016
won 2014–2016
Held jointly by 6 — nobody has beaten it.
The contest a team has made their own — turning up every year and taking it home again.
SON OF SMOKE at Elk Grove Western Festival and BBQ Championship (POSTPONED) May 5, 2017
2016–2017, straight
Held jointly by 5 — nobody has beaten it.
Defending a title once is an achievement. Nobody on this board gave one up willingly.
SMOKIN MO'S BBQ at 4th Annual Santa Anita Winners' Circle BBQ Championship Mar 20, 2015
won it with 701.1316
Every Grand Championship counts the same in the standings. Not every one means beating this many people.
Meat Candy Q at The Golden State Battle IV - Day 2 Jan 22, 2022
the title finally came in 2022
Proof it is worth going back. Every team here cooked for years before the call finally came.
Burnin and Lootin Sep 18, 2026
2013 → 2026 · 16 titles
Staying good is harder than getting good. These teams were winning contests more than a decade apart.
Burnin and Lootin Sep 18, 2026
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.
BIG POPPA SMOKERS Jun 14, 2024
across all four meats
Every category win is a walk to the stage. This is the longest walk in the sport.
Meat Candy Q Nov 4, 2022
the 2022 season
One team, one year, and a stack of first-place calls that would furnish most careers.
SMOKIN' VOLTS BBQ May 19, 2023
1 of them with the Grand Championship too
Chicken, ribs, pork and brisket, all first, all on the same day. Most teams never see one.
BIG POPPA SMOKERS Jun 14, 2024
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.
B' Mackin BBQ at 21st Annual Burnt Offerings BBQ Contest Sep 12, 2025
Brisket, Pork, Pork Ribs
One perfect card is a story worth retelling. Two before the awards ceremony is a record.
Meat Candy Q Sep 17, 2022
the 2022 season
A whole year of turning in boxes nobody at the table could mark down.
B' Mackin BBQ at 21st Annual Burnt Offerings BBQ Contest Sep 12, 2025
first in 2020 · 52 contests to complete the set
Held jointly by 5 — 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.
LEFT COAST Q at Silicon Valley BBQ Championships Jun 28, 2013
Chicken · Jun 28, 2013
Where the 180 club starts. These are the oldest perfect cards anywhere in the data.
9th Annual Santa Anita Winners' Circle BBQ Championship - Day 2 Apr 2, 2022
shared by 9 teams in a field of 27
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.
SIMPLY MARVELOUS BBQ Sep 18, 2026
2012 → 2026
Before anything else, competition barbecue is showing up. Nobody has shown up more often than this.
Burnin and Lootin Sep 18, 2026
2012 → 2026 · 101 contests
Held jointly by 2 — nobody has beaten it.
Rigs wear out and cooks retire. These teams were still turning in boxes more than a decade after their first one.
SIMPLY MARVELOUS BBQ Sep 18, 2026
137 contests, 2012 → 2026
Not just a long career — a busy one, season after season, with no quiet years in the middle.
SIMPLY MARVELOUS BBQ Dec 31, 2026
2012 → 2026, no gaps
An unbroken run. Every single year, the rig came back out of the shed.
RIDGE ROUTE BOYS BBQ Oct 17, 2014
the 2014 season · 1 title
Held jointly by 2 — nobody has beaten it.
A season spent almost entirely in a parking lot somewhere, next to a smoker.
BIG POPPA SMOKERS Jun 14, 2024
from 105 contests
The measure of a team that is always in it — not always winning, but always there at the end of the day.
BIG POPPA SMOKERS Jun 14, 2024
97 from 105 contests
Consistency, stated as a percentage. Turn up, and this is how often you were still standing at the end.
LADY OF Q at Horse Town Brew n Que Festival May 31, 2025
2015 → 2025
Held jointly by 3 — 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.
4th Annual Santa Anita Winners' Circle BBQ Championship Mar 20, 2015
won with 701.1316
The largest gathering of smokers the data has ever recorded in one place.
Harry Soo - Slap Yo' Daddy BBQ 101 Sep 8, 2018
2017 → 2018
The institutions. These contests have been feeding judges for as long as the data goes back.
Dana Point State BBQ Championship Oct 7, 2016
3 editions · biggest 99
One big year is a fluke. These contests pull a crowd every single time they run.
Horse Town Brew n Que Festival May 31, 2025
from 7 editions with a champion on file
The contests nobody owns. Turn up here and last year counts for nothing.
West Coast BBQ Classic May 12, 2017
in a field of 40 · won with 694.8800
Held jointly by 4 — nobody has beaten it.
Out of 720 points, this many teams finished inside ONE of the leader. Any of them could have won it with a better garnish.
Silicon Valley BBQ Championship Jun 21, 2019
What was actually on the table. Listed purses only — KCBS does not publish who took home which slice of it.
Jul 26, 2013 Jul 26, 2013
across 1 states and provinces
Held jointly by 10 or more — nobody has beaten it.
One Saturday, this many contests, every one of them lighting a fire at the same hour.
The 2014 season Dec 12, 2014
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.
Kelly McIntosh Sep 18, 2026
2019 → 2026
The people who make a contest a contest — table captains, score checkers, keepers of the rulebook.
Kelly McIntosh Nov 4, 2022
the 2022 season
Thirty contests in a year means most of a summer spent beside a scoring table.
Kathleen McIntosh Sep 18, 2026
at 43 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 |
|---|---|
| Cynical BBQ | 2 |
| BB's BBQ | 1 |
| ANNOINTED BBQ | 1 |
| Loco Smokers | 1 |
| Smokin' Bliss BBQ | 1 |
| Burnin and Lootin | 1 |
| LOOT N' BOOTY BBQ | 1 |
| Colorado Bulldawg BBQ | 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 | 8,401 | 161.01 | 177.05 | 54 | 6.4 |
| Pork Ribs | 8,927 | 162.55 | 176.05 | 23 | 2.6 |
| Pork | 8,126 | 163.07 | 177.23 | 62 | 7.6 |
| Chicken | 8,698 | 164.05 | 177.17 | 84 | 9.7 |
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.