53 all-time KCBS records — every one with a holder, a number, and the date it was set, read out of 72 scored contests and 14,015 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 SC record book — every record below counts only contests held in SC. 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.
SMOKIN SKULLIES at SC - BBQ Shoot Out Day 2 Oct 23, 2021
15-team field · won the contest
Four meats, six judges, one afternoon. The biggest total anybody has ever assembled.
TFS PIT VIPERS at Rufus Teague BBQ Throwdown - Dorchester Shrine Club Mar 19, 2021
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.
WAYLON'S WICKEDLY GOOD Q at Sam's Club National BBQ Tour Jun 6, 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.
SMOKIN SKULLIES at Beach Boogie and BBQ Festival Sep 4, 2015
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.
REDNECK SCIENTIFIC at SC Festival of Discovery (PALMETTO BBQ SERIES) Jul 6, 2017
won the category with it
Held jointly by 7 — 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.
FLAMING PIG at Sam's Club National BBQ Tour Jun 6, 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.
Under the Radar at SC - BBQ Shoot Out Day 2 Oct 23, 2021
finished 2nd, behind SMOKIN SKULLIES
A day this good takes a Grand Championship almost anywhere. These are the ones that ran into somebody having a better one.
Smoke Central BBQ at Smoke on the Harbor BBQ Throwdown Nov 13, 2015
and still beat 27 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.
South Carolina Festival of Discovery Jul 11, 2024
76 teams · won with 703.9888
What it cost to walk. At these contests a total that wins most weekends was only good enough for tenth.
SC - BBQ Shoot Out Day 2 Oct 23, 2021
15 teams · top score 713.1200
Judging tables are not interchangeable. At these contests the whole field scored high — not just the winner.
Smoke on the Harbor BBQ throwdown Nov 11, 2016
25 teams · even the win only took 689.0512
The other end of the same measurement: the contests where hardly anybody got a good card all day.
REDNECK SCIENTIFIC Jul 10, 2025
21 contests · best 700.5144
Anyone can catch one good day. This is the highest anybody has averaged across a real career.
LOTTA BULL BBQ at Sooie't Relief BBQ Benefit Aug 23, 2013
over SMOKE THIS
Not a contest so much as an exhibition — the runner-up in each of these was closer to tenth than to the winner.
Smoke Central BBQ at Brew & Que on the Shrine Lake Nov 2, 2018
over Bald Hawg BBQ
A whole weekend — four meats, twenty-four judging cards — decided by a rounding error.
Grand Championships, reserve finishes, dynasties and droughts.
Smoke Central BBQ Jul 9, 2021
from 42 contests · first in 2015
The headline record of the sport: how many times a team has walked away with the whole thing.
SAUCED! BBQ TEAM Sep 1, 2017
from 23 contests · 2 titles
Second overall is the hardest place to finish. These teams have done it more than anybody.
REDMULE'S BBQ Oct 22, 2021
across 9 contests, still waiting
The cruellest record in the book. Every team here has stood on the stage second, and never once first.
Smoke Central BBQ Sep 11, 2026
6 titles from 42 contests
Winning often matters more than winning a lot. This is how often a team turns up and takes the whole thing.
SMOKIN SKULLIES Oct 23, 2021
the 2021 season
The best year anybody has ever had. Four in a season is a career year; these went past it.
Smoke Central BBQ Jul 9, 2021
6 titles in all
A dynasty at one contest is one kind of record. Winning at thirty different ones is another kind entirely.
Killer B's BBQ at Smoke on the Harbor BBQ throwdown Nov 14, 2014
won 2013–2014
Held jointly by 4 — nobody has beaten it.
The contest a team has made their own — turning up every year and taking it home again.
Killer B's BBQ at Smoke on the Harbor BBQ throwdown Nov 14, 2014
2013–2014, straight
Held jointly by 2 — nobody has beaten it.
Defending a title once is an achievement. Nobody on this board gave one up willingly.
SMOKIN' SWEETMEATS at South Carolina Festival of Discovery Jul 7, 2022
won it with 708.0000
Every Grand Championship counts the same in the standings. Not every one means beating this many people.
ELITE BBQ SMOKERS at SC - BBQ Shoot Out Day 1 Oct 22, 2021
the title finally came in 2021
Proof it is worth going back. Every team here cooked for years before the call finally came.
PALMETTO PITMASTERS Jun 11, 2021
2014 → 2021 · 4 titles
Staying good is harder than getting good. These teams were winning contests more than a decade apart.
Smoke Central BBQ Jul 9, 2021
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.
SMOKING BUTT HEADS Jun 26, 2020
across all 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.
REDMULE'S BBQ Oct 22, 2021
the 2021 season
One team, one year, and a stack of first-place calls that would furnish most careers.
SMOKIN SKULLIES Sep 11, 2026
in 3 different meats · first in 2015
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.
REDNECK SCIENTIFIC at SC Festival of Discovery (PALMETTO BBQ SERIES) Jul 6, 2017
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.
WAYLON'S WICKEDLY GOOD Q Aug 22, 2014
the 2014 season
Held jointly by 9 — nobody has beaten it.
A whole year of turning in boxes nobody at the table could mark down.
MCADOO HEIGHTS BBQ at Speed & Feed BBQ Festival at Darlington Raceway May 15, 2026
first in 2022 · 36 contests to complete the set
Held jointly by 2 — 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.
WAYLON'S WICKEDLY GOOD Q at Sam's Club National BBQ Tour Jun 6, 2014
Chicken · Jun 6, 2014
Where the 180 club starts. These are the oldest perfect cards anywhere in the data.
South Carolina Festival of Discovery Jul 9, 2026
shared by 7 teams in a field of 75
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.
ELITE BBQ SMOKERS Jul 9, 2026
2014 → 2026
Before anything else, competition barbecue is showing up. Nobody has shown up more often than this.
YES, DEAR BBQ Sep 11, 2026
2013 → 2026 · 21 contests
Rigs wear out and cooks retire. These teams were still turning in boxes more than a decade after their first one.
PIG ON FIRE Sep 11, 2026
46 contests, 2013 → 2026
Not just a long career — a busy one, season after season, with no quiet years in the middle.
PIG ON FIRE Dec 31, 2026
2013 → 2026, no gaps
An unbroken run. Every single year, the rig came back out of the shed.
ELITE BBQ SMOKERS Oct 23, 2021
the 2021 season · 1 title
A season spent almost entirely in a parking lot somewhere, next to a smoker.
Smoke Central BBQ Sep 11, 2026
from 42 contests
The measure of a team that is always in it — not always winning, but always there at the end of the day.
Smoke Central BBQ Sep 11, 2026
27 from 42 contests
Consistency, stated as a percentage. Turn up, and this is how often you were still standing at the end.
THE SMOKIN' GRILL at SC Festival of Discovery Jul 9, 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.
South Carolina Festival of Discovery Jul 7, 2022
won with 708.0000
The largest gathering of smokers the data has ever recorded in one place.
SC Festival of Discovery Jul 9, 2021
2013 → 2021 · about 85 teams a year
The institutions. These contests have been feeding judges for as long as the data goes back.
SC Festival of Discovery Jul 9, 2021
8 editions · biggest 90
One big year is a fluke. These contests pull a crowd every single time they run.
SC Festival of Discovery Jul 9, 2021
from 8 editions with a champion on file
The contests nobody owns. Turn up here and last year counts for nothing.
SC Festival of Discovery Jul 7, 2016
in a field of 82 · won with 686.7656
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.
SC Festival of Discovery Jul 12, 2019
83 teams cooking for it
What was actually on the table. Listed purses only — KCBS does not publish who took home which slice of it.
Aug 29, 2014 Aug 29, 2014
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 2014 season Nov 14, 2014
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.
Doug Reid Jul 8, 2027
2019 → 2027
The people who make a contest a contest — table captains, score checkers, keepers of the rulebook.
Doug Reid Aug 27, 2021
the 2021 season
Thirty contests in a year means most of a summer spent beside a scoring table.
Doug Reid Jul 9, 2026
at 21 contests
How many separate teams have taken a Grand Championship at a contest this rep was running.
| Team | GCs this season |
|---|---|
| Maya Jane BBQ | 1 |
| MCADOO HEIGHTS BBQ | 1 |
| COCAMOKE SMOKE 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 | 2,495 | 162.58 | 177.37 | 18 | 7.2 |
| Pork Ribs | 2,555 | 163.60 | 177.52 | 13 | 5.1 |
| Pork | 2,536 | 164.42 | 176.93 | 8 | 3.2 |
| Chicken | 2,527 | 165.50 | 177.95 | 26 | 10.3 |
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.