52 all-time KCBS records — every one with a holder, a number, and the date it was set, read out of 86 scored contests and 17,160 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 NJ record book — every record below counts only contests held in NJ. 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.
BOGGS HOG BBQ at Red White & Que - CAMPGROUND BBQ SERIES (Day 2) Oct 21, 2023
29-team field · won the contest
Four meats, six judges, one afternoon. The biggest total anybody has ever assembled.
Leaning Jowler BBQ at Red White & Que - CAMPGROUND BBQ SERIES (Day 1) Oct 24, 2025
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.
BEERBEQUE at Que by the Sea Sep 22, 2017
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.
Smokestack Redemption at Mid Atlantic BBQ Expo Mar 8, 2019
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.
INSANE SWINE BBQ at Red White and Que Sep 24, 2016
won the category with it
Held jointly by 4 — 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.
DANTE'S INFERNO at New Jersey KnoQ-out: Day 2-CAMPGROUND BBQ SERIES Apr 24, 2021
won the category with it
Held jointly by 6 — 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.
GLAZED AND INFUSED NEW JERSEY BBQ at New Jersey KnoQ-out - CAMPGROUND BBQ SERIES (DAY 2) Apr 18, 2026
finished 2nd, behind ElJefe Smoke
A day this good takes a Grand Championship almost anywhere. These are the ones that ran into somebody having a better one.
Rogue Hog BBQ at Red, White and Que Sep 6, 2014
and still beat 30 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.
Red White & Que - CAMPGROUND BBQ SERIES (Day 2) Oct 25, 2025
32 teams · won with 700.5144
What it cost to walk. At these contests a total that wins most weekends was only good enough for tenth.
Red White & Que - CAMPGROUND BBQ SERIES (Day 2) Oct 19, 2024
26 teams · top score 697.0972
Judging tables are not interchangeable. At these contests the whole field scored high — not just the winner.
New Jersey State Barbecue Championship Jul 12, 2013
65 teams · even the win only took 655.3940
The other end of the same measurement: the contests where hardly anybody got a good card all day.
CHUNKY BBQ Jul 11, 2026
27 contests · best 703.9772
Anyone can catch one good day. This is the highest anybody has averaged across a real career.
THE BASIC BBQ TEAM at Red, White and Que Sep 26, 2015
over FIRE DOWN BELOW
Not a contest so much as an exhibition — the runner-up in each of these was closer to tenth than to the winner.
Piggin' Whiskey at "Last Chance" KnoQ-out - CAMPGROUND BBQ SERIES Jul 30, 2020
over SMOKIN' TEX BBQ
A whole weekend — four meats, twenty-four judging cards — decided by a rounding error.
Grand Championships, reserve finishes, dynasties and droughts.
CHUNKY BBQ Jul 13, 2024
from 27 contests · first in 2020
Held jointly by 2 — nobody has beaten it.
The headline record of the sport: how many times a team has walked away with the whole thing.
BOGGS HOG BBQ Jul 11, 2026
from 32 contests · 6 titles
Held jointly by 3 — nobody has beaten it.
Second overall is the hardest place to finish. These teams have done it more than anybody.
THE BBQ GURU Oct 8, 2016
across 17 contests, still waiting
The cruellest record in the book. Every team here has stood on the stage second, and never once first.
CHUNKY BBQ Jul 11, 2026
6 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.
Rogue Hog BBQ Oct 3, 2014
the 2014 season
Held jointly by 8 — nobody has beaten it.
The best year anybody has ever had. Four in a season is a career year; these went past it.
CHUNKY BBQ Jul 13, 2024
6 titles in all
A dynasty at one contest is one kind of record. Winning at thirty different ones is another kind entirely.
Uncle Pig's Barbeque Pit at New Jersey State Barbecue Championship Jul 12, 2019
won 2015–2019
Held jointly by 3 — nobody has beaten it.
The contest a team has made their own — turning up every year and taking it home again.
CHUNKY BBQ at New Jersey State Barbecue Championship Jul 13, 2024
2022–2024, straight
Held jointly by 2 — nobody has beaten it.
Defending a title once is an achievement. Nobody on this board gave one up willingly.
CHIX, SWINE & BOVINE BBQ at DO AC Smokin' Hot Atlantic City BBQ Championship Oct 5, 2013
won it with 670.2972
Every Grand Championship counts the same in the standings. Not every one means beating this many people.
BOGGS HOG BBQ at Red White & Que - CAMPGROUND BBQ SERIES (Day 1) Oct 20, 2023
the title finally came in 2023
Proof it is worth going back. Every team here cooked for years before the call finally came.
SMOKIN HOGGZ BBQ - MA May 2, 2025
2018 → 2025 · 2 titles
Staying good is harder than getting good. These teams were winning contests more than a decade apart.
BOGGS HOG BBQ Oct 24, 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.
BOGGS HOG BBQ Oct 24, 2025
across all four meats
Every category win is a walk to the stage. This is the longest walk in the sport.
BIG RAZ BBQ Oct 12, 2019
the 2019 season
Held jointly by 2 — nobody has beaten it.
One team, one year, and a stack of first-place calls that would furnish most careers.
BOGGS HOG BBQ Oct 24, 2025
in 3 different meats · first in 2023
A 180 means all six judges handed back a nine for appearance, taste and tenderness. These teams have collected them.
BOGGS HOG BBQ at Red White & Que - CAMPGROUND BBQ SERIES (Day 2) Oct 21, 2023
Brisket, Chicken, Pork
One perfect card is a story worth retelling. Two before the awards ceremony is a record.
BOGGS HOG BBQ Oct 24, 2025
the 2025 season
A whole year of turning in boxes nobody at the table could mark down.
BOGGS HOG BBQ at Red White & Que - CAMPGROUND BBQ SERIES (Day 2) Oct 21, 2023
first in 2023 · 1 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.
INSANE SWINE BBQ at Red White and Que Sep 24, 2016
Pork · Sep 24, 2016
Where the 180 club starts. These are the oldest perfect cards anywhere in the data.
Red White & Que - CAMPGROUND BBQ SERIES (Day 2) Oct 21, 2023
shared by 3 teams in a field of 29
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.
Uncle Pig's Barbeque Pit Jul 11, 2026
2013 → 2026
Before anything else, competition barbecue is showing up. Nobody has shown up more often than this.
Bar B Q Dat Jul 11, 2026
2013 → 2026 · 12 contests
Held jointly by 9 — 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.
Uncle Pig's Barbeque Pit Jul 11, 2026
75 contests, 2013 → 2026
Held jointly by 2 — nobody has beaten it.
Not just a long career — a busy one, season after season, with no quiet years in the middle.
Uncle Pig's Barbeque Pit Dec 31, 2026
2013 → 2026, no gaps
Held jointly by 2 — nobody has beaten it.
An unbroken run. Every single year, the rig came back out of the shed.
CHUNKY BBQ Oct 22, 2022
the 2022 season · 2 titles
Held jointly by 4 — nobody has beaten it.
A season spent almost entirely in a parking lot somewhere, next to a smoker.
Uncle Pig's Barbeque Pit Apr 18, 2026
from 55 contests
The measure of a team that is always in it — not always winning, but always there at the end of the day.
CHUNKY BBQ Jul 11, 2026
22 from 27 contests
Consistency, stated as a percentage. Turn up, and this is how often you were still standing at the end.
Uncle Pig's Barbeque Pit at New Jersey State Barbecue Championship Jul 11, 2026
2013 → 2026 · won it 3×
Held jointly by 7 — 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.
DO AC Smokin' Hot Atlantic City BBQ Championship Oct 5, 2013
won with 670.2972
The largest gathering of smokers the data has ever recorded in one place.
New Jersey KnoQ-out - CAMPGROUND BBQ SERIES (DAY 2) Apr 18, 2026
2018 → 2026 · about 23 teams a year
The institutions. These contests have been feeding judges for as long as the data goes back.
New Jersey State Barbecue Championship Jul 11, 2026
12 editions · biggest 67
One big year is a fluke. These contests pull a crowd every single time they run.
New Jersey KnoQ-out - CAMPGROUND BBQ SERIES (DAY 2) Apr 18, 2026
from 18 editions with a champion on file
The contests nobody owns. Turn up here and last year counts for nothing.
New Jersey State Barbecue Championship Jul 12, 2019
64 teams cooking for it
Held jointly by 2 — nobody has beaten it.
What was actually on the table. Listed purses only — KCBS does not publish who took home which slice of it.
Jul 31, 2020 Jul 31, 2020
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 2021 season Oct 23, 2021
across 1 states and provinces
Held jointly by 6 — nobody has beaten it.
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.
Jeff Chambers Oct 24, 2026
2019 → 2026
The people who make a contest a contest — table captains, score checkers, keepers of the rulebook.
Jeff Chambers Oct 23, 2021
the 2021 season
Held jointly by 3 — nobody has beaten it.
Thirty contests in a year means most of a summer spent beside a scoring table.
Jeff Chambers Apr 18, 2026
at 46 contests
How many separate teams have taken a Grand Championship at a contest this rep was running.
| Team | GCs this season |
|---|---|
| Pit Master Matt | 1 |
| Rough Cut Q | 1 |
| Grandpa Val's BBQ | 1 |
| ELJEFE SMOKE | 1 |
| B'S QUE | 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 | 2,609 | 157.91 | 176.65 | 8 | 3.1 |
| Pork Ribs | 3,177 | 160.40 | 175.00 | 5 | 1.6 |
| Pork | 2,611 | 160.78 | 176.66 | 7 | 2.7 |
| Chicken | 3,063 | 162.63 | 176.80 | 18 | 5.9 |
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.