53 all-time KCBS records — every one with a holder, a number, and the date it was set, read out of 404 scored contests and 131,618 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 KS record book — every record below counts only contests held in KS. 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.
Smoked & Furious at 5th Annual KCBS World Invitational - OPEN Aug 11, 2023
90-team field · won the contest
Four meats, six judges, one afternoon. The biggest total anybody has ever assembled.
Swine-O-licious BBQ at RTrowbridge Memorial Cook Flyin (BACKYARD) May 17, 2024
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.
GREAT PLAINS BBQ at R'Kansas City State BBQ Championship Apr 26, 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.
JP CUSTOM SMOKE at Ol' Glory BBQ Bash Jun 14, 2013
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.
WANNA B'S at Sertoma 48 BBQ May 10, 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.
HOG TIDE BAR-B-QUE at BBQ at the Races Kansas Speedway Aug 17, 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.
MAN MEAT BBQ at 5th Annual KCBS World Invitational - OPEN Aug 11, 2023
finished 2nd, behind Smoked & Furious
Held jointly by 2 — nobody has beaten it.
A day this good takes a Grand Championship almost anywhere. These are the ones that ran into somebody having a better one.
SMOKE N BABES BBQ at Cookin' on the Kaw Oct 11, 2013
and still beat 41 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.
American Royal World Series of Barbecue - Open Contest Nov 5, 2025
401 teams · won with 708.5488
What it cost to walk. At these contests a total that wins most weekends was only good enough for tenth.
5th Annual KCBS World Invitational - MASTER SERIES INVITATIONAL Aug 12, 2023
62 teams · top score 708.5256
Judging tables are not interchangeable. At these contests the whole field scored high — not just the winner.
Dodge City Days Smokin' Saddles BBQ Comp (OPEN FORMAT) Jul 24, 2026
19 teams · even the win only took 708.5140
The other end of the same measurement: the contests where hardly anybody got a good card all day.
JANKY LEG BBQ Sep 5, 2026
40 contests · best 714.2744
Anyone can catch one good day. This is the highest anybody has averaged across a real career.
JO-BAWB'S BBQ at Smoke on the Water Oct 9, 2015
over Boxer Q BBQ
Not a contest so much as an exhibition — the runner-up in each of these was closer to tenth than to the winner.
DIRT ROAD BBQ at Sam's Club National BBQ Tour Apr 26, 2013
over SMOKEAHOLICS KS
A whole weekend — four meats, twenty-four judging cards — decided by a rounding error.
Plus 4 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.
SLAPS BBQ Jun 27, 2025
from 124 contests · first in 2015
The headline record of the sport: how many times a team has walked away with the whole thing.
GETTIN' BASTED May 31, 2024
from 77 contests · 9 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.
Smoke This Drink That BBQ Aug 22, 2025
across 16 contests, still waiting
The cruellest record in the book. Every team here has stood on the stage second, and never once first.
CLARK CREW BBQ Sep 27, 2023
15 titles from 70 contests
Winning often matters more than winning a lot. This is how often a team turns up and takes the whole thing.
TRUEBUD BBQ Sep 13, 2013
the 2013 season
Held jointly by 6 — nobody has beaten it.
The best year anybody has ever had. Four in a season is a career year; these went past it.
SLAPS BBQ Jun 27, 2025
22 titles in all
A dynasty at one contest is one kind of record. Winning at thirty different ones is another kind entirely.
GETTIN' BASTED at Big Blue BBQ Championship Jun 2, 2023
won 2016–2023
The contest a team has made their own — turning up every year and taking it home again.
GETTIN' BASTED at Big Blue BBQ Championship Jun 1, 2018
2016–2018, straight
Defending a title once is an achievement. Nobody on this board gave one up willingly.
IOWA'S SMOKEY D'S BBQ at 37th Annual American Royal World Series of Barbecue (OPEN) Oct 29, 2016
won it with 706.3084
Every Grand Championship counts the same in the standings. Not every one means beating this many people.
FINGER LEIKAM GOOD at Smokin' Saddles Double Header (Day 2) Jul 27, 2024
the title finally came in 2024
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.
BREW 'N' BAR-B-QUE Jun 19, 2026
2013 → 2026 · 6 titles
Staying good is harder than getting good. These teams were winning contests more than a decade apart.
SLAPS BBQ Jun 27, 2025
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.
SLAPS BBQ Sep 25, 2026
across all four meats
Every category win is a walk to the stage. This is the longest walk in the sport.
913 BBQ Oct 14, 2016
the 2016 season
Held jointly by 3 — nobody has beaten it.
One team, one year, and a stack of first-place calls that would furnish most careers.
SLAPS BBQ Sep 25, 2026
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.
Fat&Dumb BBQ at Shawnee Great Grillers State Championship Sep 27, 2019
Brisket, Chicken, Pork
Held jointly by 2 — nobody has beaten it.
One perfect card is a story worth retelling. Two before the awards ceremony is a record.
SLAPS BBQ Sep 10, 2021
the 2021 season
A whole year of turning in boxes nobody at the table could mark down.
Bocephus BBQ at Tom Brigham Memorial BBQ May 16, 2025
first in 2023 · 20 contests to complete the set
Held jointly by 10 or more — 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.
GREAT PLAINS BBQ at R'Kansas City State BBQ Championship Apr 26, 2013
Chicken · Apr 26, 2013
Where the 180 club starts. These are the oldest perfect cards anywhere in the data.
American Royal World Series of Barbecue - Open Contest Sep 27, 2023
shared by 18 teams in a field of 487
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.
MAN MEAT BBQ Sep 5, 2026
2014 → 2026
Before anything else, competition barbecue is showing up. Nobody has shown up more often than this.
SMOKE ON WHEELS Sep 25, 2026
2013 → 2026 · 43 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.
SLAPS BBQ Sep 25, 2026
131 contests, 2013 → 2026
Held jointly by 10 or more — nobody has beaten it.
Not just a long career — a busy one, season after season, with no quiet years in the middle.
B & C SMOKERS Dec 31, 2026
2013 → 2026, 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.
MAN MEAT BBQ Oct 25, 2019
the 2019 season · 4 titles
A season spent almost entirely in a parking lot somewhere, next to a smoker.
SLAPS BBQ Sep 25, 2026
from 124 contests
The measure of a team that is always in it — not always winning, but always there at the end of the day.
CLARK CREW BBQ Sep 27, 2023
53 from 70 contests
Consistency, stated as a percentage. Turn up, and this is how often you were still standing at the end.
THE SMOKING HILLS at Big Blue BBQ Championship Jun 6, 2025
2013 → 2025 · won it 2×
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.
37th Annual American Royal World Series of Barbecue (OPEN) Oct 29, 2016
won with 706.3084
The largest gathering of smokers the data has ever recorded in one place.
Smoke in the Spring (OPEN FORMAT) Apr 10, 2026
2013 → 2026 · about 95 teams a year
The institutions. These contests have been feeding judges for as long as the data goes back.
American Royal World Series of Barbecue - Open Contest Sep 27, 2023
3 editions · biggest 505
One big year is a fluke. These contests pull a crowd every single time they run.
Smoke in the Spring (OPEN FORMAT) Apr 10, 2026
from 13 editions with a champion on file
The contests nobody owns. Turn up here and last year counts for nothing.
Red, White, Blue BBQ Competition Apr 29, 2022
in a field of 77 · won with 702.2744
Out of 720 points, this many teams finished inside ONE of the leader. Any of them could have won it with a better garnish.
American Royal World Series of Barbecue - Open Contest Sep 27, 2023
487 teams cooking for it
What was actually on the table. Listed purses only — KCBS does not publish who took home which slice of it.
Aug 23, 2013 Aug 23, 2013
across 1 states and provinces
Held jointly by 7 — nobody has beaten it.
One Saturday, this many contests, every one of them lighting a fire at the same hour.
The 2013 season Nov 23, 2013
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.
Lynda Voth Oct 9, 2026
2019 → 2026
The people who make a contest a contest — table captains, score checkers, keepers of the rulebook.
Larry Voth Oct 7, 2023
the 2023 season
Held jointly by 2 — nobody has beaten it.
Thirty contests in a year means most of a summer spent beside a scoring table.
Larry Hadley Sep 25, 2026
at 65 contests
How many separate teams have taken a Grand Championship at a contest this rep was running.
| Team | GCs this season |
|---|---|
| JDQ BBQ | 3 |
| TRIPLE H BBQ | 2 |
| Meat Candy Q | 2 |
| JANKY LEG BBQ | 2 |
| Brooklyn L. - ShowMeNoSmoke | 1 |
| Janky Leg | 1 |
| WOOD HOOK BBQ | 1 |
| Squealin N Dealin BBQ | 1 |
| PACS BBQ | 1 |
| Good News 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 | 22,010 | 162.89 | 177.82 | 172 | 7.8 |
| Pork Ribs | 22,501 | 164.58 | 177.88 | 130 | 5.8 |
| Pork | 21,937 | 165.12 | 178.32 | 208 | 9.5 |
| Chicken | 22,363 | 165.49 | 178.19 | 239 | 10.7 |
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.