52 all-time KCBS records — every one with a holder, a number, and the date it was set, read out of 85 scored contests and 12,397 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 MI record book — every record below counts only contests held in MI. 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.
iBQ'n at All American BBQ Throwdown Aug 1, 2025
43-team field · won the contest
Four meats, six judges, one afternoon. The biggest total anybody has ever assembled.
BBQ MIKE at Dowagiac BBQ Competition and Summer Festival (BACKYARD ONLY) Jul 19, 2025
won the board
Held jointly by 2 — nobody has beaten it.
The Backyard board runs on its own scale, so it keeps its own record — pooled with Master it would never surface at all.
BIG BROTHERS BBQ at Silver Lake Apple BBQ Festival Sep 12, 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.
CANCERSUCKSCHICAGO.COM at Silver Lake Apple BBQ Festival Sep 13, 2013
won the category with it
Held jointly by 7 — 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.
BIG BROTHERS BBQ at The Rumble on the River presented by TheBBQSuperStore.com Sep 22, 2017
won the category with it
Held jointly by 7 — 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 SMOKE HUNTERS at Sam's Club National BBQ Tour 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.
JANKY LEG BBQ at All American BBQ Throwdown Jul 31, 2026
finished 2nd, behind Bucked Up BBQ
A day this good takes a Grand Championship almost anywhere. These are the ones that ran into somebody having a better one.
PB&J'S BBQ TEAM at Ribstock Aug 26, 2016
and still beat 31 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.
GLBBQA Spring Fling Apr 18, 2025
56 teams · won with 704.5256
What it cost to walk. At these contests a total that wins most weekends was only good enough for tenth.
GLBBQA Spring Fling Apr 17, 2026
48 teams · top score 707.4056
Judging tables are not interchangeable. At these contests the whole field scored high — not just the winner.
Silver Lake Apple BBQ Festival Sep 14, 2018
48 teams · even the win only took 694.2512
The other end of the same measurement: the contests where hardly anybody got a good card all day.
BooyaQ Jul 31, 2026
25 contests · best 702.7884
Anyone can catch one good day. This is the highest anybody has averaged across a real career.
BIG "E" BBQ at The Rumble on the River presented by TheBBQSuperStore.com Sep 21, 2018
over BIG BROTHERS BBQ
Not a contest so much as an exhibition — the runner-up in each of these was closer to tenth than to the winner.
Bay 5 BBQ at September Fest Sep 11, 2026
over DAT'S BBQ
A whole weekend — four meats, twenty-four judging cards — decided by a rounding error.
Plus 1 championship 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.
iBQ'n Aug 1, 2025
from 62 contests · first in 2014
The headline record of the sport: how many times a team has walked away with the whole thing.
BIG BROTHERS BBQ Sep 21, 2018
from 31 contests · 4 titles
Second overall is the hardest place to finish. These teams have done it more than anybody.
TIRE SMOKE BBQ May 9, 2025
across 17 contests, still waiting
The cruellest record in the book. Every team here has stood on the stage second, and never once first.
iBQ'n May 1, 2026
13 titles from 62 contests
Winning often matters more than winning a lot. This is how often a team turns up and takes the whole thing.
iBQ'n Sep 12, 2014
the 2014 season
The best year anybody has ever had. Four in a season is a career year; these went past it.
iBQ'n Aug 1, 2025
13 titles in all
A dynasty at one contest is one kind of record. Winning at thirty different ones is another kind entirely.
iBQ'n at All American BBQ Throwdown Aug 1, 2025
won 2017–2025
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.
iBQ'n@TheBBQSuperStore.com at Bordertown BBQ Brawl Jul 19, 2019
2018–2019, straight
Held jointly by 2 — nobody has beaten it.
Defending a title once is an achievement. Nobody on this board gave one up willingly.
Poppa Pig at GLBBQA Spring Fling Apr 19, 2024
won it with 706.3088
Every Grand Championship counts the same in the standings. Not every one means beating this many people.
Q-JITSU at Great Lakes Smoke Showdown BBQ Cook Off (COMPETITOR SERIES) Aug 16, 2026
the title finally came in 2026
Proof it is worth going back. Every team here cooked for years before the call finally came.
iBQ'n Aug 1, 2025
2014 → 2025 · 13 titles
Staying good is harder than getting good. These teams were winning contests more than a decade apart.
iBQ'n Aug 1, 2025
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.
iBQ'n Aug 1, 2025
across all four meats
Every category win is a walk to the stage. This is the longest walk in the sport.
iBQ'n Sep 12, 2014
the 2014 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.
BAD HABIT BBQ Apr 19, 2024
in 3 different meats · first in 2018
A 180 means all six judges handed back a nine for appearance, taste and tenderness. These teams have collected them.
iBQ'n Aug 1, 2025
the 2025 season
A whole year of turning in boxes nobody at the table could mark down.
BAD HABIT BBQ at Bordertown BBQ Brawl Jul 16, 2021
first in 2018 · 21 contests to complete the set
Held jointly by 2 — 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.
CANCERSUCKSCHICAGO.COM at Silver Lake Apple BBQ Festival Sep 13, 2013
Pork Ribs · Sep 13, 2013
Where the 180 club starts. These are the oldest perfect cards anywhere in the data.
Smoke in the Mitten BBQ Competition May 5, 2023
shared by 3 teams in a field of 25
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.
iBQ'n May 1, 2026
2013 → 2026
Before anything else, competition barbecue is showing up. Nobody has shown up more often than this.
Kalamazoo Pit Posse Sep 11, 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.
iBQ'n May 1, 2026
70 contests, 2013 → 2026
Held jointly by 3 — nobody has beaten it.
Not just a long career — a busy one, season after season, with no quiet years in the middle.
B&R SMOKE Dec 31, 2026
2013 → 2026, no gaps
Held jointly by 3 — nobody has beaten it.
An unbroken run. Every single year, the rig came back out of the shed.
THE REAL SMOKIN ACES Sep 11, 2015
the 2015 season · 1 title
A season spent almost entirely in a parking lot somewhere, next to a smoker.
iBQ'n May 1, 2026
from 62 contests
The measure of a team that is always in it — not always winning, but always there at the end of the day.
iBQ'n May 1, 2026
56 from 62 contests
Consistency, stated as a percentage. Turn up, and this is how often you were still standing at the end.
BO B Q BBQ at All American BBQ Throwdown Jul 31, 2026
2016 → 2026
Held jointly by 2 — 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.
GLBBQA Spring Fling Apr 19, 2024
won with 706.3088
The largest gathering of smokers the data has ever recorded in one place.
All American BBQ Throwdown Jul 31, 2026
2016 → 2026 · about 36 teams a year
The institutions. These contests have been feeding judges for as long as the data goes back.
Silver Lake Apple BBQ Festival Sep 11, 2015
3 editions · biggest 47
One big year is a fluke. These contests pull a crowd every single time they run.
All American BBQ Throwdown Jul 31, 2026
from 13 editions with a champion on file
The contests nobody owns. Turn up here and last year counts for nothing.
Rumble on the River Presented by TheBBQSuperStore.com Sep 25, 2020
in a field of 28 · won with 688.0000
Held jointly by 2 — 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.
All American BBQ Throwdown Jul 31, 2026
45 teams cooking for it
What was actually on the table. Listed purses only — KCBS does not publish who took home which slice of it.
Jul 16, 2021 Jul 16, 2021
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 2017 season Oct 13, 2017
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.
Becky Druetzler Sep 11, 2027
2019 → 2027
Held jointly by 2 — nobody has beaten it.
The people who make a contest a contest — table captains, score checkers, keepers of the rulebook.
Becky Druetzler Sep 11, 2026
the 2026 season
Held jointly by 2 — nobody has beaten it.
Thirty contests in a year means most of a summer spent beside a scoring table.
Becky Druetzler Sep 11, 2026
at 21 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 |
|---|---|
| Bay 5 BBQ | 1 |
| Shiggin aint easy | 1 |
| QUE U | 1 |
| Q-JITSU | 1 |
| Bucked Up BBQ | 1 |
| All Smoked Up 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 | 2,243 | 161.94 | 176.67 | 11 | 4.9 |
| Pork Ribs | 2,645 | 163.25 | 175.98 | 7 | 2.6 |
| Pork | 2,243 | 163.53 | 176.27 | 7 | 3.1 |
| Chicken | 2,345 | 164.65 | 176.85 | 14 | 6 |
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.