53 all-time KCBS records — every one with a holder, a number, and the date it was set, read out of 122 scored contests and 21,861 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 MN record book — every record below counts only contests held in MN. 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.
QUETOPIA at Mankato Cookout Day 1 Jun 10, 2016
33-team field · won the contest
Four meats, six judges, one afternoon. The biggest total anybody has ever assembled.
DAWGS BBQ at Spring into Summer Backyard BBQ Competition (BACKYARD ONLY) May 29, 2026
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.
Pig Skin BBQ at Bend of the River CookOut Jun 27, 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.
BIG T'Z Q CRU at Med City BBQ & Musicfest Aug 9, 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.
SONS OF BUTCHERS at Smoke on the Waterfall Jul 10, 2015
won the category with it
Held jointly by 6 — 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.
PARROTHEAD SMOKERS at Minnesota in May May 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.
SPITFIRE at Treasure Island International BBQ Championship Jun 15, 2013
finished 2nd, behind GRILLS GONE WILD IOWA
A day this good takes a Grand Championship almost anywhere. These are the ones that ran into somebody having a better one.
RUB MY RACK at Sam's Club National BBQ Tour Jul 22, 2016
and still beat 29 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.
Mankato Cookout (Day 2) Jun 9, 2018
42 teams · won with 702.8340
What it cost to walk. At these contests a total that wins most weekends was only good enough for tenth.
Minnesota in May May 10, 2024
58 teams · top score 699.9772
Judging tables are not interchangeable. At these contests the whole field scored high — not just the winner.
10th Annual Big Island BBQ Aug 25, 2017
56 teams · even the win only took 700.5140
The other end of the same measurement: the contests where hardly anybody got a good card all day.
IOWA'S SMOKEY D'S BBQ Jul 10, 2026
26 contests · best 703.4056
Anyone can catch one good day. This is the highest anybody has averaged across a real career.
A Boy & His BBQ at Minnesota in May May 16, 2014
over SPITFIRE
Not a contest so much as an exhibition — the runner-up in each of these was closer to tenth than to the winner.
Son of a Boar BBQ at Minnesota in May (Masters) May 13, 2022
over CITY SLICKERS 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.
SHIGGIN & GRINNIN Feb 21, 2025
from 70 contests · first in 2013
The headline record of the sport: how many times a team has walked away with the whole thing.
SPITFIRE Aug 28, 2026
from 66 contests · 3 titles
Second overall is the hardest place to finish. These teams have done it more than anybody.
Porket About It Aug 16, 2025
across 19 contests, still waiting
The cruellest record in the book. Every team here has stood on the stage second, and never once first.
LUCKY'S Q Jun 3, 2022
5 titles from 35 contests
Winning often matters more than winning a lot. This is how often a team turns up and takes the whole thing.
TIPPYCANOE BBQ CREW Aug 16, 2013
the 2013 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.
SHIGGIN & GRINNIN Feb 21, 2025
7 titles in all
A dynasty at one contest is one kind of record. Winning at thirty different ones is another kind entirely.
Furlongs Smoke & Seafood at Boomer Backyard BBQ Cookoff (BACKYARD ONLY) Aug 17, 2024
won 2021–2024
The contest a team has made their own — turning up every year and taking it home again.
Furlongs Smoke & Seafood at Boomer Backyard BBQ Cookoff (BACKYARD ONLY) Aug 17, 2024
2023–2024, straight
Held jointly by 3 — nobody has beaten it.
Defending a title once is an achievement. Nobody on this board gave one up willingly.
BURNT TREES BBQ at Minnesota in May May 8, 2026
won it with 700.0004
Every Grand Championship counts the same in the standings. Not every one means beating this many people.
ACES HIGH BBQ at KTD Smokin ' Gobbler Cook-Off Sep 14, 2018
the title finally came in 2018
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.
SHIGGIN & GRINNIN Feb 21, 2025
2013 → 2025 · 7 titles
Staying good is harder than getting good. These teams were winning contests more than a decade apart.
HOT DADDY'S BBQ Jul 12, 2024
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.
SHIGGIN & GRINNIN Feb 21, 2025
across all four meats
Every category win is a walk to the stage. This is the longest walk in the sport.
LUCKY'S Q Sep 15, 2017
the 2017 season
One team, one year, and a stack of first-place calls that would furnish most careers.
Pig Skin BBQ Jun 3, 2016
in 3 different meats · first in 2013
A 180 means all six judges handed back a nine for appearance, taste and tenderness. These teams have collected them.
Pig Skin BBQ at 6th Annual Big Island BBQ Aug 23, 2013
Brisket, Pork Ribs
Held jointly by 2 — nobody has beaten it.
One perfect card is a story worth retelling. Two before the awards ceremony is a record.
LUCKY'S Q Jun 10, 2017
the 2017 season
A whole year of turning in boxes nobody at the table could mark down.
GRILLS GONE WILD IOWA at Smokin In Steele Jun 1, 2018
first in 2013 · 61 contests to complete the set
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.
PARROTHEAD SMOKERS at Minnesota in May May 17, 2013
Brisket · May 17, 2013
Where the 180 club starts. These are the oldest perfect cards anywhere in the data.
Big Island BBQ Aug 22, 2014
shared by 3 teams in a field of 54
Held jointly by 3 — 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.
SHIGGIN & GRINNIN Aug 28, 2026
2013 → 2026
Before anything else, competition barbecue is showing up. Nobody has shown up more often than this.
SPITFIRE Aug 28, 2026
2013 → 2026 · 72 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.
SHIGGIN & GRINNIN Aug 28, 2026
80 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.
ACES HIGH BBQ 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.
SHIGGIN & GRINNIN Aug 26, 2016
the 2016 season · 2 titles
A season spent almost entirely in a parking lot somewhere, next to a smoker.
SHIGGIN & GRINNIN Aug 28, 2026
from 70 contests
The measure of a team that is always in it — not always winning, but always there at the end of the day.
SHIGGIN & GRINNIN Aug 28, 2026
60 from 70 contests
Consistency, stated as a percentage. Turn up, and this is how often you were still standing at the end.
The Q Crew at Smokin' in Steele May 30, 2025
2013 → 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.
Minnesota in May May 8, 2026
won with 700.0004
The largest gathering of smokers the data has ever recorded in one place.
KTD Smokin Gobbler Cook-off Jul 12, 2024
2013 → 2024 · about 29 teams a year
The institutions. These contests have been feeding judges for as long as the data goes back.
Minnesota in May May 11, 2018
3 editions · biggest 71
One big year is a fluke. These contests pull a crowd every single time they run.
KTD Smokin Gobbler Cook-off Jul 12, 2024
from 13 editions with a champion on file
The contests nobody owns. Turn up here and last year counts for nothing.
The Madelia Blazin' Barbeque Blast Jul 12, 2013
in a field of 23 · won with 685.0744
Held jointly by 3 — 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.
MN Masters BBQ Aug 23, 2024
27 teams cooking for it
What was actually on the table. Listed purses only — KCBS does not publish who took home which slice of it.
May 13, 2022 May 13, 2022
across 1 states and provinces
One Saturday, this many contests, every one of them lighting a fire at the same hour.
The 2013 season Sep 13, 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.
Laurie Tweten Jul 24, 2027
2022 → 2027
The people who make a contest a contest — table captains, score checkers, keepers of the rulebook.
Laurie Tweten Aug 28, 2026
the 2026 season
Thirty contests in a year means most of a summer spent beside a scoring table.
Laurie Tweten Aug 28, 2026
at 28 contests
How many separate teams have taken a Grand Championship at a contest this rep was running.
| Team | GCs this season |
|---|---|
| Shiggin & Grinnn | 1 |
| SASSY SMOKE BBQ | 1 |
| RUB MY RACK | 1 |
| FENDER BENDER BBQ | 1 |
| DAWGS BBQ | 1 |
| BURNT TREES BBQ | 1 |
| Big Mike's Smokehouse | 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 | 3,665 | 163.01 | 177.83 | 17 | 4.6 |
| Pork Ribs | 4,642 | 164.18 | 176.53 | 8 | 1.7 |
| Pork | 3,708 | 165.21 | 177.08 | 7 | 1.9 |
| Chicken | 4,332 | 165.93 | 177.65 | 17 | 3.9 |
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.