49 all-time KCBS records — every one with a holder, a number, and the date it was set, read out of 27 scored contests and 3,582 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 ME record book — every record below counts only contests held in ME. 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.
OLD VIRGINIA SMOKE at Kora Kares for Kids Aug 15, 2026
51-team field · won the contest
Four meats, six judges, one afternoon. The biggest total anybody has ever assembled.
SHAKE 'N BAKE BBQ at Central Maine BBQ Cook Off Jun 19, 2021
won the category with it
Held jointly by 4 — 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.
16 Mesh BBQ at Kora Kares for Kids (ONE MEAT RIBS) Aug 17, 2024
won the category with it
Held jointly by 3 — 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.
SMOKIN HOGGZ BBQ - MA at Smokin @ the Ballpark BBQ Festival Jun 21, 2013
won the category with it
Held jointly by 9 — 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.
HUMPHREY'S BBQ at Kora Shriners BBQ Competition Aug 19, 2023
won the category with it
Held jointly by 2 — 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.
Smoke Sisters at Kora Kares for Kids Aug 15, 2026
finished 2nd, behind Old Virginia Smoke
A day this good takes a Grand Championship almost anywhere. These are the ones that ran into somebody having a better one.
STUBBORN BULL BBQ at Sam's Club National BBQ Tour Aug 8, 2014
and still beat 27 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.
Kora Kares for Kids Aug 15, 2026
51 teams · won with 709.1316
What it cost to walk. At these contests a total that wins most weekends was only good enough for tenth.
Kora Kares for Kids Aug 15, 2026
51 teams · top score 709.1316
Judging tables are not interchangeable. At these contests the whole field scored high — not just the winner.
Sam's Club National BBQ Tour Aug 8, 2014
28 teams · even the win only took 673.7372
The other end of the same measurement: the contests where hardly anybody got a good card all day.
SMOKIN HOGGZ BBQ - MA Aug 15, 2026
20 contests · best 697.0512
Anyone can catch one good day. This is the highest anybody has averaged across a real career.
THE BASIC BBQ TEAM at Nostrano Garlic Festival Presents: Great Maine BBQ Challenge at Smuggler's Den Campground Sep 9, 2016
over SMOKIN HOGGZ BBQ - MA
Not a contest so much as an exhibition — the runner-up in each of these was closer to tenth than to the winner.
THE BASIC BBQ TEAM at Smokin at the Ballpark BBQ Fest Jul 16, 2016
over SMOKIN HOGGZ BBQ - MA
A whole weekend — four meats, twenty-four judging cards — decided by a rounding error.
Grand Championships, reserve finishes, dynasties and droughts.
Rogue Hog BBQ Jun 20, 2015
from 13 contests · first in 2013
Held jointly by 3 — nobody has beaten it.
The headline record of the sport: how many times a team has walked away with the whole thing.
INSANE SWINE BBQ Aug 19, 2023
from 16 contests · 3 titles
Second overall is the hardest place to finish. These teams have done it more than anybody.
ACK-QUE Aug 20, 2021
across 9 contests, still waiting
The cruellest record in the book. Every team here has stood on the stage second, and never once first.
THE BASIC BBQ TEAM Sep 9, 2016
the 2016 season
The best year anybody has ever had. Four in a season is a career year; these went past it.
Rogue Hog BBQ Jun 20, 2015
3 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.
SMOKIN HOGGZ BBQ - MA at Great Maine BBQ Challenge Sep 22, 2018
won 2017–2018
The contest a team has made their own — turning up every year and taking it home again.
SMOKIN HOGGZ BBQ - MA at Great Maine BBQ Challenge Sep 22, 2018
2017–2018, straight
Defending a title once is an achievement. Nobody on this board gave one up willingly.
OLD VIRGINIA SMOKE at Kora Kares for Kids Aug 15, 2026
won it with 709.1316
Every Grand Championship counts the same in the standings. Not every one means beating this many people.
PADDY MCQ'S at Kora Shriners BBQ Competition Aug 19, 2023
the title finally came in 2023
Proof it is worth going back. Every team here cooked for years before the call finally came.
INSANE SWINE BBQ Aug 24, 2019
2015 → 2019 · 3 titles
Staying good is harder than getting good. These teams were winning contests more than a decade apart.
FIRE AT THE END OF THE DAY Aug 17, 2024
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.
PADDY MCQ'S Aug 16, 2025
across all four meats
Every category win is a walk to the stage. This is the longest walk in the sport.
THE BASIC BBQ TEAM Sep 9, 2016
the 2016 season
One team, one year, and a stack of first-place calls that would furnish most careers.
SMOKIN HOGGZ BBQ - MA Aug 15, 2026
in 2 different meats · first in 2013
Held jointly by 3 — nobody has beaten it.
A 180 means all six judges handed back a nine for appearance, taste and tenderness. These teams have collected them.
OLD VIRGINIA SMOKE at Kora Kares for Kids Aug 15, 2026
Pork, Pork Ribs
One perfect card is a story worth retelling. Two before the awards ceremony is a record.
OLD VIRGINIA SMOKE Aug 15, 2026
the 2026 season
A whole year of turning in boxes nobody at the table could mark down.
OLD VIRGINIA SMOKE at Kora Kares for Kids Aug 15, 2026
first in 2026 · 2 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.
SMOKIN HOGGZ BBQ - MA at Smokin @ the Ballpark BBQ Festival Jun 21, 2013
Pork · Jun 21, 2013
Where the 180 club starts. These are the oldest perfect cards anywhere in the data.
Kora Kares for Kids Aug 15, 2026
shared by 4 teams in a field of 51
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.
SMOKIN HOGGZ BBQ - MA Aug 15, 2026
2013 → 2026
Before anything else, competition barbecue is showing up. Nobody has shown up more often than this.
SMOKIN HOGGZ BBQ - MA Aug 15, 2026
2013 → 2026 · 24 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.
SMOKIN HOGGZ BBQ - MA Aug 15, 2026
24 contests, 2013 → 2026
Not just a long career — a busy one, season after season, with no quiet years in the middle.
SMOKIN HOGGZ BBQ - MA Dec 31, 2019
2013 → 2019, no gaps
Held jointly by 3 — nobody has beaten it.
An unbroken run. Every single year, the rig came back out of the shed.
CIDER BOYS BBQ Aug 27, 2022
the 2022 season
Held jointly by 2 — nobody has beaten it.
A season spent almost entirely in a parking lot somewhere, next to a smoker.
SMOKIN HOGGZ BBQ - MA Aug 15, 2026
from 20 contests
The measure of a team that is always in it — not always winning, but always there at the end of the day.
FIRE AT THE END OF THE DAY at Kora Kares for Kids Aug 15, 2026
2024 → 2026 · won it 1×
Held jointly by 10 or more — 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.
Kora Kares for Kids (ONE MEAT RIBS) Aug 15, 2026
won with 178.8572
The largest gathering of smokers the data has ever recorded in one place.
Kora Kares for Kids Aug 15, 2026
2024 → 2026 · about 43 teams a year
The institutions. These contests have been feeding judges for as long as the data goes back.
Kora Kares for Kids Aug 15, 2026
6 editions · biggest 53
One big year is a fluke. These contests pull a crowd every single time they run.
Kora Kares for Kids Aug 15, 2026
from 6 editions with a champion on file
The contests nobody owns. Turn up here and last year counts for nothing.
Second Annual Central Maine BBQ Cookoff Jun 25, 2022
25 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 25, 2022 Jun 25, 2022
across 1 states and provinces
Held jointly by 6 — nobody has beaten it.
One Saturday, this many contests, every one of them lighting a fire at the same hour.
The 2022 season Aug 27, 2022
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.
Alan Rothrock Aug 19, 2023
2021 → 2023
Held jointly by 4 — nobody has beaten it.
The people who make a contest a contest — table captains, score checkers, keepers of the rulebook.
Carol Bigler Aug 17, 2024
the 2024 season
Held jointly by 2 — nobody has beaten it.
Thirty contests in a year means most of a summer spent beside a scoring table.
Alan Rothrock Aug 19, 2023
at 5 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 |
|---|---|
| OLD VIRGINIA SMOKE | 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 | 614 | 162.23 | 176.63 | 2 | 3.3 |
| Pork Ribs | 808 | 163.62 | 176.60 | 3 | 3.7 |
| Pork | 614 | 163.62 | 177.20 | 9 | 14.7 |
| Chicken | 614 | 164.95 | 177.34 | 4 | 6.5 |
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.