52 all-time KCBS records — every one with a holder, a number, and the date it was set, read out of 137 scored contests and 23,143 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 IN record book — every record below counts only contests held in IN. 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.
LOCAL YOKELS BBQ at Smoke on the Ohio Sep 9, 2022
12-team field · won the contest
Four meats, six judges, one afternoon. The biggest total anybody has ever assembled.
BBQ MIKE at Smokin Downtown (BACKYARD ONLY) Aug 9, 2025
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.
BIG JT'S SMOKIN BBQ at Smokin' On The Water May 3, 2014
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.
One2BBQ at Smokin' On The Water May 3, 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.
TRUCKY'S TRUE BLU BBQ'UE at Rockin' BBQ for Riley May 8, 2015
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.
ABLE ACRES BBQ at Smoke on the Square: In Memory of David Harness Jun 26, 2015
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.
WE WILL ROCK QUE at Rockin' BBQ Warsaw, Indiana May 15, 2026
finished 2nd, behind Scuffletown Smokers
A day this good takes a Grand Championship almost anywhere. These are the ones that ran into somebody having a better one.
THE SMOKE HUNTERS at Sam's Club National BBQ Tour Jul 14, 2017
and still beat 26 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.
Madison Ribberfest Aug 15, 2025
45 teams · won with 702.2628
What it cost to walk. At these contests a total that wins most weekends was only good enough for tenth.
Rockin' BBQ Take 2 Aug 25, 2023
23 teams · top score 706.2860
Judging tables are not interchangeable. At these contests the whole field scored high — not just the winner.
Smokin' on the Water May 4, 2013
37 teams · even the win only took 682.8570
The other end of the same measurement: the contests where hardly anybody got a good card all day.
LOCAL YOKELS BBQ Sep 11, 2026
24 contests · best 716.0000
Anyone can catch one good day. This is the highest anybody has averaged across a real career.
One2BBQ at Sam's Club National BBQ Tour Jun 21, 2013
over BACK PORCH Q
Not a contest so much as an exhibition — the runner-up in each of these was closer to tenth than to the winner.
EAT MOR BUTT BBQ at Madison Ribberfest BBQ & Blues Festisval Aug 19, 2016
over FOWL BUTT BBQ
A whole weekend — four meats, twenty-four judging cards — decided by a rounding error.
Grand Championships, reserve finishes, dynasties and droughts.
One2BBQ Jun 20, 2020
from 46 contests · first in 2013
The headline record of the sport: how many times a team has walked away with the whole thing.
SCUFFLETOWN SMOKERS Sep 12, 2025
from 42 contests · 6 titles
Held jointly by 2 — nobody has beaten it.
Second overall is the hardest place to finish. These teams have done it more than anybody.
UNCLE TOAD'S COMPETITION BBQ Sep 9, 2016
across 41 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.
One2BBQ Oct 22, 2021
11 titles from 46 contests
Winning often matters more than winning a lot. This is how often a team turns up and takes the whole thing.
One2BBQ Aug 30, 2014
the 2014 season
Held jointly by 2 — nobody has beaten it.
The best year anybody has ever had. Four in a season is a career year; these went past it.
One2BBQ Jun 20, 2020
11 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.
LOCAL YOKELS BBQ at Smoke on the Ohio Sep 9, 2022
won 2018–2022
Held jointly by 2 — nobody has beaten it.
The contest a team has made their own — turning up every year and taking it home again.
One2BBQ at Wine,Brew & Bar-B-Que Too! Jul 18, 2014
2013–2014, straight
Held jointly by 5 — nobody has beaten it.
Defending a title once is an achievement. Nobody on this board gave one up willingly.
ROOTERS-N-TOOTERS TN at Covid-Que Relief (Day 1) Jun 19, 2020
won it with 693.6796
Every Grand Championship counts the same in the standings. Not every one means beating this many people.
WeQ4U at Madison Ribberfest BBQ Blues Aug 18, 2023
the title finally came in 2023
Proof it is worth going back. Every team here cooked for years before the call finally came.
ROOTERS-N-TOOTERS TN Aug 15, 2025
2017 → 2025 · 4 titles
Staying good is harder than getting good. These teams were winning contests more than a decade apart.
SCUFFLETOWN SMOKERS Sep 11, 2026
in 1 state
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.
THUNDER HOG BBQ Aug 16, 2024
across all four meats
Every category win is a walk to the stage. This is the longest walk in the sport.
UNCLE TOAD'S COMPETITION BBQ Sep 9, 2016
the 2016 season
One team, one year, and a stack of first-place calls that would furnish most careers.
SCUFFLETOWN SMOKERS May 15, 2026
in 4 different meats · first in 2016
A 180 means all six judges handed back a nine for appearance, taste and tenderness. These teams have collected them.
GETTIN' BASTED at Wine,Brew & Bar-B-Que Too! Jul 15, 2016
Brisket, Pork Ribs
Held jointly by 5 — nobody has beaten it.
One perfect card is a story worth retelling. Two before the awards ceremony is a record.
BIG JT'S SMOKIN BBQ Sep 12, 2015
the 2015 season
Held jointly by 2 — nobody has beaten it.
A whole year of turning in boxes nobody at the table could mark down.
SCUFFLETOWN SMOKERS at Madison Ribberfest BBQ & Blues Festival Aug 19, 2022
first in 2016 · 67 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.
BIG JT'S SMOKIN BBQ at Smokin' On The Water May 3, 2014
Chicken · May 3, 2014
Where the 180 club starts. These are the oldest perfect cards anywhere in the data.
PigMania Franklin State Championship BBQ Competition Mar 22, 2019
shared by 5 teams in a field of 29
Held jointly by 2 — nobody has beaten it.
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.
THUNDER HOG BBQ May 15, 2026
2013 → 2026
Before anything else, competition barbecue is showing up. Nobody has shown up more often than this.
TEMPTATION STATION Sep 11, 2026
2013 → 2026 · 11 contests
Held jointly by 3 — 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.
iBQ'n May 15, 2026
53 contests, 2013 → 2026
Held jointly by 4 — nobody has beaten it.
Not just a long career — a busy one, season after season, with no quiet years in the middle.
iBQ'n Dec 31, 2026
2013 → 2026, no gaps
Held jointly by 4 — nobody has beaten it.
An unbroken run. Every single year, the rig came back out of the shed.
THUNDER HOG BBQ Sep 9, 2016
the 2016 season · 1 title
A season spent almost entirely in a parking lot somewhere, next to a smoker.
THUNDER HOG BBQ Aug 16, 2024
from 75 contests
The measure of a team that is always in it — not always winning, but always there at the end of the day.
One2BBQ Oct 22, 2021
39 from 46 contests
Consistency, stated as a percentage. Turn up, and this is how often you were still standing at the end.
Global Smokers at Smoke on the Ohio Sep 11, 2026
2017 → 2026
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.
Covid-Que Relief (Day 1) Jun 19, 2020
won with 693.6796
The largest gathering of smokers the data has ever recorded in one place.
Smoke on the Ohio Sep 11, 2026
2017 → 2026 · about 24 teams a year
The institutions. These contests have been feeding judges for as long as the data goes back.
Madison Ribberfest BBQ & Blues Festival Aug 19, 2022
6 editions · biggest 64
One big year is a fluke. These contests pull a crowd every single time they run.
Madison Ribberfest BBQ & Blues Festival Aug 19, 2022
from 6 editions with a champion on file
Held jointly by 2 — nobody has beaten it.
The contests nobody owns. Turn up here and last year counts for nothing.
Madison Ribberfest BBQ & Blues Festival Aug 16, 2019
47 teams cooking for it
What was actually on the table. Listed purses only — KCBS does not publish who took home which slice of it.
Jun 17, 2022 Jun 17, 2022
across 1 states and provinces
Held jointly by 2 — nobody has beaten it.
One Saturday, this many contests, every one of them lighting a fire at the same hour.
The 2016 season Sep 9, 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.
Dave Druetzler Oct 2, 2026
2019 → 2026
The people who make a contest a contest — table captains, score checkers, keepers of the rulebook.
Dave Druetzler Aug 20, 2021
the 2021 season
Held jointly by 2 — nobody has beaten it.
Thirty contests in a year means most of a summer spent beside a scoring table.
Dave Druetzler Oct 2, 2026
at 32 contests
How many separate teams have taken a Grand Championship at a contest this rep was running.
| Team | GCs this season |
|---|---|
| SCUFFLETOWN SMOKERS | 2 |
| Holy Cow | 1 |
| WE WILL ROCK QUE | 1 |
| Sermerstout BBQ | 1 |
| Rudes 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 | 4,110 | 163.65 | 178.00 | 34 | 8.3 |
| Pork Ribs | 4,602 | 164.45 | 176.86 | 13 | 2.8 |
| Pork | 4,181 | 165.32 | 177.82 | 32 | 7.7 |
| Chicken | 4,363 | 166.22 | 177.61 | 37 | 8.5 |
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.