48 all-time KCBS records — every one with a holder, a number, and the date it was set, read out of 28 scored contests and 4,113 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 OR record book — every record below counts only contests held in OR. 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.
Cynical BBQ at The Sutherlin Throwdown Jul 20, 2024
30-team field · won the contest
Four meats, six judges, one afternoon. The biggest total anybody has ever assembled.
Smoke324 at BBQ, Blues & Brews on the Bay May 27, 2023
won the category with it
Held jointly by 8 — 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.
UTAH BBQ COMPANY at BBQ Blues & Brews on the Bay (JUDGES FULL) May 27, 2017
won the category with it
Held jointly by 8 — 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.
MOVIN' THE CHAINS at BBQ, Blues & Brews on the Bay May 24, 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.
WARPIG BBQ & SAUSAGE CO. at BBQ Blues & Brews on the Bay (JUDGES FULL) May 27, 2017
won the category with it
Held jointly by 8 — 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.
Bad Bears BBQ at The Sutherlin Throwdown Jul 20, 2024
finished 2nd, behind Cynical BBQ
A day this good takes a Grand Championship almost anywhere. These are the ones that ran into somebody having a better one.
FAT DAD'S BBQ at Battle of the Bones Jun 26, 2015
and still beat 24 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.
Sutherlin Throwdown Jul 18, 2026
29 teams · won with 705.1200
What it cost to walk. At these contests a total that wins most weekends was only good enough for tenth.
The Santiam Smoke Show (Day 2) May 31, 2025
28 teams · top score 707.3828
Judging tables are not interchangeable. At these contests the whole field scored high — not just the winner.
Battle of the Bones Jun 20, 2014
15 teams · even the win only took 698.2284
The other end of the same measurement: the contests where hardly anybody got a good card all day.
MOVIN' THE CHAINS at Battle of the Bones Jun 20, 2014
over Fat Dads
Not a contest so much as an exhibition — the runner-up in each of these was closer to tenth than to the winner.
CROOKED PIGS at BBQ, Blues & Brews on the Bay May 25, 2024
over Small Axe BBQ
A whole weekend — four meats, twenty-four judging cards — decided by a rounding error.
Grand Championships, reserve finishes, dynasties and droughts.
CROOKED PIGS May 24, 2025
from 12 contests · first in 2022
The headline record of the sport: how many times a team has walked away with the whole thing.
Smoke324 Jul 2, 2022
from 10 contests · 0 titles
Second overall is the hardest place to finish. These teams have done it more than anybody.
Smoke324 Jul 2, 2022
across 10 contests, still waiting
The cruellest record in the book. Every team here has stood on the stage second, and never once first.
BIG BITE BBQ Aug 30, 2014
the 2014 season
The best year anybody has ever had. Four in a season is a career year; these went past it.
CROOKED PIGS May 24, 2025
3 titles in all
Held jointly by 4 — nobody has beaten it.
A dynasty at one contest is one kind of record. Winning at thirty different ones is another kind entirely.
Rooftop BBQ at BBQ, Blues & Brews on the Bay May 28, 2016
won 2015–2016
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.
Rooftop BBQ at BBQ, Blues & Brews on the Bay May 28, 2016
2015–2016, straight
Held jointly by 2 — nobody has beaten it.
Defending a title once is an achievement. Nobody on this board gave one up willingly.
Rooftop BBQ at BBQ, Blues & Brews on the Bay May 28, 2016
won it with 695.4288
Every Grand Championship counts the same in the standings. Not every one means beating this many people.
BOOTIES BBQ at Albany Bacon Championship Feb 15, 2020
the title finally came in 2020
Proof it is worth going back. Every team here cooked for years before the call finally came.
CROOKED PIGS May 24, 2025
2022 → 2025 · 3 titles
Staying good is harder than getting good. These teams were winning contests more than a decade apart.
CROOKED PIGS May 24, 2025
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.
CROOKED PIGS May 24, 2025
across 3 of the four meats
Held jointly by 2 — nobody has beaten it.
Every category win is a walk to the stage. This is the longest walk in the sport.
MOVIN' THE CHAINS Jun 20, 2014
the 2014 season
One team, one year, and a stack of first-place calls that would furnish most careers.
CROOKED PIGS May 24, 2025
in 3 different meats · first in 2023
Held jointly by 2 — nobody has beaten it.
A 180 means all six judges handed back a nine for appearance, taste and tenderness. These teams have collected them.
BOOTIES BBQ at Albany Bacon Championship Feb 15, 2020
Brisket, Pork
Held jointly by 3 — nobody has beaten it.
One perfect card is a story worth retelling. Two before the awards ceremony is a record.
Bad Bears BBQ Jul 19, 2025
the 2025 season
A whole year of turning in boxes nobody at the table could mark down.
CROOKED PIGS at BBQ, Blues & Brews on the Bay May 24, 2025
first in 2023 · 13 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.
MOVIN' THE CHAINS at BBQ, Blues & Brews on the Bay May 24, 2014
Pork · May 24, 2014
Where the 180 club starts. These are the oldest perfect cards anywhere in the data.
Sutherlin Throwdown Jul 19, 2025
shared by 5 teams in a field of 35
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.
J&C BBQ Jul 18, 2026
2017 → 2026
Before anything else, competition barbecue is showing up. Nobody has shown up more often than this.
LAKE HOUSE BBQ May 23, 2026
2013 → 2026 · 10 contests
Rigs wear out and cooks retire. These teams were still turning in boxes more than a decade after their first one.
SMOKIN TIMBERS NORTHWEST Jul 18, 2026
17 contests, 2015 → 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.
Northwest Smokehouse Dec 31, 2019
2013 → 2019, no gaps
Held jointly by 3 — nobody has beaten it.
An unbroken run. Every single year, the rig came back out of the shed.
BAR-B-CUDA BBQ Jul 19, 2025
the 2025 season · 1 title
Held jointly by 7 — nobody has beaten it.
A season spent almost entirely in a parking lot somewhere, next to a smoker.
Small Axe BBQ May 23, 2026
from 15 contests
Held jointly by 2 — nobody has beaten it.
The measure of a team that is always in it — not always winning, but always there at the end of the day.
SMOKIN TIMBERS NORTHWEST at BBQ, Blues & Brews on the Bay May 23, 2026
2015 → 2026 · won it 1×
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, Blues & Brews on the Bay May 28, 2016
won with 695.4288
The largest gathering of smokers the data has ever recorded in one place.
BBQ, Blues & Brews on the Bay May 23, 2026
2013 → 2026 · about 32 teams a year
The institutions. These contests have been feeding judges for as long as the data goes back.
BBQ, Blues & Brews on the Bay May 23, 2026
12 editions · biggest 43
One big year is a fluke. These contests pull a crowd every single time they run.
BBQ, Blues & Brews on the Bay May 23, 2026
from 12 editions with a champion on file
The contests nobody owns. Turn up here and last year counts for nothing.
2024 Icebox Cookoff Jul 6, 2024
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.
May 25, 2013 May 25, 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 2022 season Oct 7, 2022
across 1 states and provinces
Held jointly by 2 — 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.
Julie Poe Jul 18, 2026
2019 → 2026
The people who make a contest a contest — table captains, score checkers, keepers of the rulebook.
Julie Poe Oct 7, 2022
the 2022 season
Thirty contests in a year means most of a summer spent beside a scoring table.
Julie Poe Jul 18, 2026
at 18 contests
How many separate teams have taken a Grand Championship at a contest this rep was running.
| Team | GCs this season |
|---|---|
| Rio Good BBQ | 1 |
| BONE RUBBIN 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 | 775 | 163.89 | 177.98 | 9 | 11.6 |
| Pork Ribs | 775 | 165.54 | 177.82 | 9 | 11.6 |
| Pork | 775 | 165.68 | 178.14 | 11 | 14.2 |
| Chicken | 775 | 166.60 | 177.90 | 10 | 12.9 |
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.