54 all-time KCBS records — every one with a holder, a number, and the date it was set, read out of 452 scored contests and 89,622 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 MO record book — every record below counts only contests held in MO. 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.
Glamping Grillers at Kickin' It Route 66 Barbecue Challenge (Day 1) Mar 28, 2025
27-team field · won the contest
Four meats, six judges, one afternoon. The biggest total anybody has ever assembled.
Swine-O-licious BBQ at Car-B-Que (BACKYARD ONLY) Sep 9, 2022
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.
GETTIN' BASTED at Rock'n Ribs BBQ Festival Apr 19, 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.
POLITICAL PORK at Apple Blossom Barbecue Contest May 3, 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.
K.C. CAN CREW at Rock'n Freedom Jun 20, 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.
PELLET ENVY at Crossroads BBQ Cook-off Jul 5, 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.
TRIPLE H BBQ at Smokin on the Osage (Day 2) Jul 20, 2024
finished 2nd, behind Janky Leg BBQ
A day this good takes a Grand Championship almost anywhere. These are the ones that ran into somebody having a better one.
R BUTTS R SMOKIN at Community Fisrt Bank BBQ Competition (TEAM SPOTS STILL AVAILABLE) Sep 27, 2013
and still beat 17 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.
Smokin on the Osage (Day 2) Jul 20, 2024
33 teams · won with 713.1316
What it cost to walk. At these contests a total that wins most weekends was only good enough for tenth.
Smokin on the Osage (Day 2) Jul 20, 2024
33 teams · top score 713.1316
Judging tables are not interchangeable. At these contests the whole field scored high — not just the winner.
Racing for the BBQ Jul 27, 2018
66 teams · even the win only took 701.1200
The other end of the same measurement: the contests where hardly anybody got a good card all day.
JANKY LEG BBQ Sep 18, 2026
52 contests · best 713.1316
Anyone can catch one good day. This is the highest anybody has averaged across a real career.
DIRT ROAD BBQ at Buckner Smoke Out in the Valley Jun 21, 2014
over K.C. CAN CREW
Not a contest so much as an exhibition — the runner-up in each of these was closer to tenth than to the winner.
GETTIN' BASTED at Rock'n Ribs BBQ Festival Apr 19, 2013
over BURNT FINGER BBQ
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.
GETTIN' BASTED Mar 22, 2024
from 154 contests · first in 2013
The headline record of the sport: how many times a team has walked away with the whole thing.
GETTIN' BASTED Jul 11, 2025
from 154 contests · 23 titles
Second overall is the hardest place to finish. These teams have done it more than anybody.
COUNTY LINE SMOKERS Jun 3, 2016
across 14 contests, still waiting
The cruellest record in the book. Every team here has stood on the stage second, and never once first.
TRUEBUD BBQ Oct 3, 2015
7 titles from 27 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 6, 2013
the 2013 season
The best year anybody has ever had. Four in a season is a career year; these went past it.
GETTIN' BASTED Mar 22, 2024
23 titles in all
A dynasty at one contest is one kind of record. Winning at thirty different ones is another kind entirely.
THERE'S NO PLACE LIKE SMOKE at Anchor City Cook-Off Sep 8, 2023
won 2018–2023
The contest a team has made their own — turning up every year and taking it home again.
GILLY'S BBQ at Kennett Jaycee's Show Me State BBQ Cookoff Apr 4, 2014
2013–2014, straight
Held jointly by 9 — nobody has beaten it.
Defending a title once is an achievement. Nobody on this board gave one up willingly.
GRILLS GONE WILD IOWA at 36th Annual American Royal World Series of Barbeque- Open Oct 3, 2015
won it with 706.2972
Every Grand Championship counts the same in the standings. Not every one means beating this many people.
Wabash BBQ at Smokin' in the Creek BBQ Contest Apr 26, 2024
the title finally came in 2024
Proof it is worth going back. Every team here cooked for years before the call finally came.
SHAKE 'N BAKE BBQ Sep 13, 2024
2013 → 2024 · 19 titles
Staying good is harder than getting good. These teams were winning contests more than a decade apart.
GETTIN' BASTED Mar 22, 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.
GETTIN' BASTED Mar 23, 2024
across all four meats
Every category win is a walk to the stage. This is the longest walk in the sport.
GETTIN' BASTED Sep 19, 2015
the 2015 season
One team, one year, and a stack of first-place calls that would furnish most careers.
VALLEY OAKS STEAK COMPANY Sep 23, 2016
1 of them with the Grand Championship too
Held jointly by 2 — nobody has beaten it.
Chicken, ribs, pork and brisket, all first, all on the same day. Most teams never see one.
GETTIN' BASTED Jul 11, 2025
in 4 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.
GRILLS GONE WILD IOWA at 36th Annual American Royal World Series of Barbeque- Open Oct 3, 2015
Pork, Pork Ribs
Held jointly by 10 or more — nobody has beaten it.
One perfect card is a story worth retelling. Two before the awards ceremony is a record.
GETTIN' BASTED Aug 21, 2021
the 2021 season
Held jointly by 3 — nobody has beaten it.
A whole year of turning in boxes nobody at the table could mark down.
JAESTAR BBQ at Sons of the American Legion Red White & Blue II BBQ Contest Oct 18, 2014
first in 2014 · 19 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.
GETTIN' BASTED at Rock'n Ribs BBQ Festival Apr 19, 2013
Chicken · Apr 19, 2013
Where the 180 club starts. These are the oldest perfect cards anywhere in the data.
36th Annual American Royal World Series of Barbeque- Open Oct 3, 2015
shared by 11 teams in a field of 606
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.
GETTIN' BASTED Aug 14, 2026
2013 → 2026
Before anything else, competition barbecue is showing up. Nobody has shown up more often than this.
BURNT FINGER BBQ Sep 10, 2026
2013 → 2026 · 78 contests
Rigs wear out and cooks retire. These teams were still turning in boxes more than a decade after their first one.
GETTIN' BASTED Aug 14, 2026
164 contests, 2013 → 2026
Held jointly by 9 — nobody has beaten it.
Not just a long career — a busy one, season after season, with no quiet years in the middle.
Bad Influence BBQ - MO Dec 31, 2026
2013 → 2026, no gaps
Held jointly by 9 — nobody has beaten it.
An unbroken run. Every single year, the rig came back out of the shed.
GETTIN' BASTED Nov 7, 2015
the 2015 season · 4 titles
A season spent almost entirely in a parking lot somewhere, next to a smoker.
GETTIN' BASTED Mar 27, 2026
from 154 contests
The measure of a team that is always in it — not always winning, but always there at the end of the day.
Swine-O-licious BBQ Jul 11, 2025
24 from 25 contests
Consistency, stated as a percentage. Turn up, and this is how often you were still standing at the end.
One Slab at a Time at Jesse James Barbeque Cook Out Sep 17, 2021
2013 → 2021
Held jointly by 8 — 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.
36th Annual American Royal World Series of Barbeque- Open Oct 3, 2015
won with 706.2972
The largest gathering of smokers the data has ever recorded in one place.
Cameron Elks BBQ Cook-Off (MASTERS and BACKYARD 1) Jul 10, 2026
2020 → 2026 · about 26 teams a year
The institutions. These contests have been feeding judges for as long as the data goes back.
Independence Fire & Ice BBQ Oct 5, 2018
3 editions · biggest 76
One big year is a fluke. These contests pull a crowd every single time they run.
Cameron Elks BBQ Cook-Off (MASTERS and BACKYARD 1) Jul 10, 2026
from 15 editions with a champion on file
The contests nobody owns. Turn up here and last year counts for nothing.
Racing for the BBQ Jul 25, 2014
in a field of 54 · won with 687.3368
Held jointly by 4 — 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.
La Belle MO Show Me BBQ Showdown Oct 2, 2026
What was actually on the table. Listed purses only — KCBS does not publish who took home which slice of it.
May 6, 2016 May 6, 2016
across 1 states and provinces
Held jointly by 3 — nobody has beaten it.
One Saturday, this many contests, every one of them lighting a fire at the same hour.
The 2015 season Nov 10, 2015
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.
Bunny Tuttle Oct 2, 2026
2019 → 2026
The people who make a contest a contest — table captains, score checkers, keepers of the rulebook.
Ed Young Oct 7, 2022
the 2022 season
Thirty contests in a year means most of a summer spent beside a scoring table.
Dave Rogers Aug 21, 2026
at 38 contests
How many separate teams have taken a Grand Championship at a contest this rep was running.
| 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 | 15,351 | 162.33 | 177.33 | 109 | 7.1 |
| Pork Ribs | 16,726 | 164.20 | 177.41 | 114 | 6.8 |
| Pork | 15,423 | 164.81 | 177.62 | 163 | 10.6 |
| Chicken | 16,238 | 165.39 | 177.71 | 157 | 9.7 |
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.