51 all-time KCBS records — every one with a holder, a number, and the date it was set, read out of 55 scored contests and 8,497 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 SD record book — every record below counts only contests held in SD. 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.
Bohica BBQ at Hill City Wine, Brew & BBQ Fest Aug 25, 2023
26-team field · won the contest
Four meats, six judges, one afternoon. The biggest total anybody has ever assembled.
ROLLIN' SMOKE BBQ SD at Hill City Wine Brew & BBQ Aug 26, 2016
won the category with it
Held jointly by 3 — 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.
TRUE SMOKE BBQ at Original SD BBQ Championships Jun 2, 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.
WOODWARD BARBEQUE at Ribs, Rods & Rock 'n Roll Sep 6, 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.
JO-BAWB'S BBQ at 1st Annual Hill City Wine, Brew & BBQ Aug 23, 2013
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.
MACHETE BOYS BBQ at Hill City Wine, Brew & BBQ Fest Aug 25, 2023
finished 2nd, behind BOHICA BBQ
A day this good takes a Grand Championship almost anywhere. These are the ones that ran into somebody having a better one.
RUB MY RACK at Ribs, Rod & Rock'n Roll Sep 7, 2018
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.
Original SD BBQ Championships Jun 6, 2025
48 teams · won with 702.3200
What it cost to walk. At these contests a total that wins most weekends was only good enough for tenth.
SD BBQ Shootout @ Huset's Speedway Sep 4, 2026
31 teams · top score 701.1316
Judging tables are not interchangeable. At these contests the whole field scored high — not just the winner.
1st Annual Hill City Wine, Brew & BBQ Aug 23, 2013
16 teams · even the win only took 686.2628
The other end of the same measurement: the contests where hardly anybody got a good card all day.
LAST CALL HEROES BBQ Aug 23, 2024
38 contests · best 699.9888
Anyone can catch one good day. This is the highest anybody has averaged across a real career.
Pigtamer BBQ at Original SD BBQ Championships Jun 5, 2015
over Eggspert BBQ
Not a contest so much as an exhibition — the runner-up in each of these was closer to tenth than to the winner.
HOT DADDY'S BBQ at SD BBQ Shootout @ Huset's Speedway Aug 29, 2025
over RUM N' SMOKE BBQ
A whole weekend — four meats, twenty-four judging cards — decided by a rounding error.
Grand Championships, reserve finishes, dynasties and droughts.
PARROTHEAD SMOKERS Aug 25, 2017
from 48 contests · first in 2013
The headline record of the sport: how many times a team has walked away with the whole thing.
SPITFIRE Sep 11, 2020
from 40 contests · 3 titles
Second overall is the hardest place to finish. These teams have done it more than anybody.
BYG'S BBQ Jun 5, 2026
across 4 contests, still waiting
Held jointly by 5 — nobody has beaten it.
The cruellest record in the book. Every team here has stood on the stage second, and never once first.
PARROTHEAD SMOKERS Sep 4, 2026
11 titles from 48 contests
Winning often matters more than winning a lot. This is how often a team turns up and takes the whole thing.
PARROTHEAD SMOKERS Sep 5, 2014
the 2014 season
The best year anybody has ever had. Four in a season is a career year; these went past it.
PARROTHEAD SMOKERS Aug 25, 2017
11 titles in all
A dynasty at one contest is one kind of record. Winning at thirty different ones is another kind entirely.
PARROTHEAD SMOKERS at Hill City Wine, Brew & BBQ Aug 25, 2017
won 2014–2017
The contest a team has made their own — turning up every year and taking it home again.
PARROTHEAD SMOKERS at Hill City Wine, Brew & BBQ Aug 25, 2017
2014–2017, straight
Defending a title once is an achievement. Nobody on this board gave one up willingly.
SPITFIRE at Original SD BBQ Championship Jun 4, 2021
won it with 697.1432
Every Grand Championship counts the same in the standings. Not every one means beating this many people.
SIN CIRCLE BBQ at Hill City Wine Brew and BBQ Fest Aug 21, 2020
the title finally came in 2020
Proof it is worth going back. Every team here cooked for years before the call finally came.
SPITFIRE Jun 4, 2021
2013 → 2021 · 3 titles
Staying good is harder than getting good. These teams were winning contests more than a decade apart.
B-S BBQ OUTLAWS Aug 23, 2019
in 1 state
Held jointly by 3 — 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.
PARROTHEAD SMOKERS Aug 23, 2024
across all four meats
Every category win is a walk to the stage. This is the longest walk in the sport.
PARROTHEAD SMOKERS Sep 20, 2013
the 2013 season
One team, one year, and a stack of first-place calls that would furnish most careers.
BnB BBQ Jun 7, 2024
in 2 different meats · first in 2019
A 180 means all six judges handed back a nine for appearance, taste and tenderness. These teams have collected them.
PARROTHEAD SMOKERS Aug 23, 2024
the 2024 season
A whole year of turning in boxes nobody at the table could mark down.
BnB BBQ at Hill City Wine, Brew & BBQ Fest Aug 25, 2023
first in 2019 · 34 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.
JO-BAWB'S BBQ at 1st Annual Hill City Wine, Brew & BBQ Aug 23, 2013
Brisket · Aug 23, 2013
Where the 180 club starts. These are the oldest perfect cards anywhere in the data.
Original SD BBQ Championships Jun 2, 2017
shared by 3 teams in a field of 32
Held jointly by 3 — 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.
PARROTHEAD SMOKERS Sep 4, 2026
2013 → 2026
Before anything else, competition barbecue is showing up. Nobody has shown up more often than this.
LONESTAR SMOKE RANGERS Sep 4, 2026
2013 → 2026 · 19 contests
Held jointly by 4 — 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.
PARROTHEAD SMOKERS Sep 4, 2026
53 contests, 2013 → 2026
Held jointly by 3 — nobody has beaten it.
Not just a long career — a busy one, season after season, with no quiet years in the middle.
PARROTHEAD SMOKERS Dec 31, 2026
2013 → 2026, no gaps
Held jointly by 3 — nobody has beaten it.
An unbroken run. Every single year, the rig came back out of the shed.
PARROTHEAD SMOKERS Sep 19, 2014
the 2014 season · 4 titles
Held jointly by 4 — nobody has beaten it.
A season spent almost entirely in a parking lot somewhere, next to a smoker.
LAST CALL HEROES BBQ Aug 23, 2024
from 38 contests
The measure of a team that is always in it — not always winning, but always there at the end of the day.
LAST CALL HEROES BBQ Aug 23, 2024
36 from 38 contests
Consistency, stated as a percentage. Turn up, and this is how often you were still standing at the end.
PARROTHEAD SMOKERS at Original SD BBQ Championships Jun 5, 2026
2013 → 2026 · won it 2×
Held jointly by 3 — 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.
Original SD BBQ Championship Jun 4, 2021
won with 697.1432
The largest gathering of smokers the data has ever recorded in one place.
Original SD BBQ Championships Jun 5, 2026
2013 → 2026 · about 36 teams a year
The institutions. These contests have been feeding judges for as long as the data goes back.
Cookin On Kampeska Jul 19, 2019
3 editions · biggest 48
One big year is a fluke. These contests pull a crowd every single time they run.
Original SD BBQ Championships Jun 5, 2026
from 12 editions with a champion on file
The contests nobody owns. Turn up here and last year counts for nothing.
Hill City Wine, Brew & BBQ Aug 21, 2015
in a field of 26 · won with 689.6456
Held jointly by 2 — 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.
Hill City Wine Brew and BBQ Fest Aug 27, 2021
31 teams cooking for it
What was actually on the table. Listed purses only — KCBS does not publish who took home which slice of it.
Jun 4, 2021 Jun 4, 2021
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 2013 season Sep 20, 2013
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.
Bunny Tuttle Jun 5, 2026
2021 → 2026
Held jointly by 2 — nobody has beaten it.
The people who make a contest a contest — table captains, score checkers, keepers of the rulebook.
Bunny Tuttle Jun 3, 2022
the 2022 season
Held jointly by 2 — nobody has beaten it.
Thirty contests in a year means most of a summer spent beside a scoring table.
Bunny Tuttle Jun 5, 2026
at 10 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 |
|---|---|
| LONESTAR SMOKE RANGERS | 1 |
| Colorado Bulldawg 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 | 1,623 | 163.05 | 177.47 | 7 | 4.3 |
| Pork Ribs | 1,783 | 164.89 | 177.43 | 4 | 2.2 |
| Pork | 1,624 | 165.35 | 178.32 | 19 | 11.7 |
| Chicken | 1,623 | 166.05 | 177.82 | 3 | 1.8 |
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.