51 all-time KCBS records — every one with a holder, a number, and the date it was set, read out of 53 scored contests and 9,886 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 NV record book — every record below counts only contests held in NV. 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.
STEVO'S BBQ TEAM at Best Dam Barbeque May 26, 2023
27-team field · won the contest
Four meats, six judges, one afternoon. The biggest total anybody has ever assembled.
BIG POPPA SMOKERS at Avi Resort & Casino Music Brews & BBQ Championship Sep 27, 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.
SHAKE 'N BAKE BBQ at Down Town Barbecue Throw down (JUDGES FULL) Dec 15, 2017
won the category with it
Held jointly by 4 — 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.
QUAU at USA Barbecue Championship Oct 30, 2014
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.
LITTLE PIG TOWN BBQ at USA Barbecue Championship Oct 30, 2014
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.
Rhythm n QUE at Best Dam Barbeque May 26, 2023
finished 2nd, behind Stevo's BBQ
A day this good takes a Grand Championship almost anywhere. These are the ones that ran into somebody having a better one.
TOMBSTONE BBQ at Sam's Club National BBQ Tour (Regional) Apr 19, 2013
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.
BBQ Jackpot Nov 21, 2025
90 teams · won with 706.2856
What it cost to walk. At these contests a total that wins most weekends was only good enough for tenth.
Sam's Club National BBQ Tour (Regional) Apr 21, 2017
30 teams · top score 706.8572
Judging tables are not interchangeable. At these contests the whole field scored high — not just the winner.
Sam's Club National BBQ Tour Mar 27, 2015
30 teams · even the win only took 677.7372
The other end of the same measurement: the contests where hardly anybody got a good card all day.
Burnin and Lootin Nov 21, 2025
20 contests · best 706.8572
Anyone can catch one good day. This is the highest anybody has averaged across a real career.
BIG POPPA SMOKERS at Best Dam Barbecue May 27, 2016
over Rhythm n QUE
Not a contest so much as an exhibition — the runner-up in each of these was closer to tenth than to the winner.
Burnin and Lootin at Wild West BBQ Shoot Out Aug 24, 2018
over BIG POPPA SMOKERS
A whole weekend — four meats, twenty-four judging cards — decided by a rounding error.
Grand Championships, reserve finishes, dynasties and droughts.
BIG POPPA SMOKERS Dec 15, 2017
from 30 contests · first in 2013
The headline record of the sport: how many times a team has walked away with the whole thing.
BIG POPPA SMOKERS Aug 23, 2019
from 30 contests · 7 titles
Second overall is the hardest place to finish. These teams have done it more than anybody.
BIG POPPA SMOKERS May 24, 2024
7 titles from 30 contests
Winning often matters more than winning a lot. This is how often a team turns up and takes the whole thing.
BIG POPPA SMOKERS Dec 15, 2017
the 2017 season
The best year anybody has ever had. Four in a season is a career year; these went past it.
BIG POPPA SMOKERS Dec 15, 2017
7 titles in all
A dynasty at one contest is one kind of record. Winning at thirty different ones is another kind entirely.
Rhythm n QUE at Sam's Club National BBQ Tour (Regional) Apr 24, 2015
won 2014–2015
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.
Rhythm n QUE at Sam's Club National BBQ Tour (Regional) Apr 24, 2015
2014–2015, straight
Defending a title once is an achievement. Nobody on this board gave one up willingly.
Big Johns BBQ Company at BBQ Jackpot Nov 21, 2025
won it with 706.2856
Every Grand Championship counts the same in the standings. Not every one means beating this many people.
ZZYZX BAR.B.Q at USA Barbecue Championship Oct 27, 2016
the title finally came in 2016
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.
Rooftop BBQ Aug 23, 2019
2014 → 2019 · 4 titles
Staying good is harder than getting good. These teams were winning contests more than a decade apart.
Big Johns BBQ Company May 23, 2026
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.
BIG POPPA SMOKERS Aug 23, 2019
across all four meats
Every category win is a walk to the stage. This is the longest walk in the sport.
Rhythm n QUE Dec 13, 2013
the 2013 season
One team, one year, and a stack of first-place calls that would furnish most careers.
BIG POPPA SMOKERS Aug 25, 2017
in 2 different meats · first in 2013
Held jointly by 4 — nobody has beaten it.
A 180 means all six judges handed back a nine for appearance, taste and tenderness. These teams have collected them.
QUAU at USA Barbecue Championship Oct 30, 2014
Brisket, Pork
Held jointly by 2 — nobody has beaten it.
One perfect card is a story worth retelling. Two before the awards ceremony is a record.
QUAU Oct 30, 2014
the 2014 season
Held jointly by 3 — nobody has beaten it.
A whole year of turning in boxes nobody at the table could mark down.
SHAKE 'N BAKE BBQ at BBQ Jackpot Nov 21, 2025
first in 2017 · 98 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.
BIG POPPA SMOKERS at Avi Resort & Casino Music Brews & BBQ Championship Sep 27, 2013
Chicken · Sep 27, 2013
Where the 180 club starts. These are the oldest perfect cards anywhere in the data.
BBQ Jackpot Dec 6, 2024
shared by 9 teams in a field of 74
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.
Rhythm n QUE Dec 6, 2024
2013 → 2024
Before anything else, competition barbecue is showing up. Nobody has shown up more often than this.
STEVE'S PIG PIKINS BBQ May 23, 2026
2013 → 2026 · 17 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.
LOOT N' BOOTY BBQ May 23, 2026
30 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.
LOOT N' BOOTY BBQ Dec 31, 2019
2013 → 2019, no gaps
Held jointly by 10 or more — nobody has beaten it.
An unbroken run. Every single year, the rig came back out of the shed.
Rhythm n QUE Dec 12, 2014
the 2014 season · 2 titles
Held jointly by 2 — nobody has beaten it.
A season spent almost entirely in a parking lot somewhere, next to a smoker.
BIG POPPA SMOKERS May 24, 2024
from 30 contests
The measure of a team that is always in it — not always winning, but always there at the end of the day.
BIG POPPA SMOKERS May 24, 2024
27 from 30 contests
Consistency, stated as a percentage. Turn up, and this is how often you were still standing at the end.
Rhythm n QUE at Sam's Club National BBQ Tour (Regional) Apr 21, 2017
2013 → 2017 · won it 2×
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.
BBQ Jackpot Nov 21, 2025
won with 706.2856
The largest gathering of smokers the data has ever recorded in one place.
Sam's Club National BBQ Tour (Regional) Apr 21, 2017
2013 → 2017 · about 30 teams a year
The institutions. These contests have been feeding judges for as long as the data goes back.
Smokin In Mesquite BBQ Championship May 6, 2016
3 editions · biggest 51
One big year is a fluke. These contests pull a crowd every single time they run.
Best Dam Barbeque May 24, 2024
from 4 editions with a champion on file
Held jointly by 3 — nobody has beaten it.
The contests nobody owns. Turn up here and last year counts for nothing.
Sam's Club National BBQ Tour Mar 24, 2017
in a field of 30 · won with 674.2168
Out of 720 points, this many teams finished inside ONE of the leader. Any of them could have won it with a better garnish.
Wild West BBQ Shoot Out Aug 23, 2019
37 teams cooking for it
What was actually on the table. Listed purses only — KCBS does not publish who took home which slice of it.
Apr 19, 2013 Apr 19, 2013
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 2013 season Dec 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.
Kelly McIntosh Nov 20, 2026
2019 → 2026
The people who make a contest a contest — table captains, score checkers, keepers of the rulebook.
Michael Santiago Jul 2, 2022
the 2022 season
Held jointly by 4 — nobody has beaten it.
Thirty contests in a year means most of a summer spent beside a scoring table.
Kathleen McIntosh May 23, 2026
at 9 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 |
|---|---|
| Meat Candy Q | 1 |
| Big Johns BBQ Company | 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 | 1,958 | 163.28 | 177.42 | 14 | 7.2 |
| Pork Ribs | 1,960 | 164.54 | 177.05 | 4 | 2 |
| Pork | 1,909 | 165.31 | 177.70 | 11 | 5.8 |
| Chicken | 1,848 | 166.19 | 178.16 | 29 | 15.7 |
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.