51 all-time KCBS records — every one with a holder, a number, and the date it was set, read out of 165 scored contests and 28,180 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 WI record book — every record below counts only contests held in WI. 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.
JANKY LEG BBQ at Bring'n Home the Bacon Day 2 (MASTER & BACKYARD) Jun 13, 2026
37-team field · won the contest
Four meats, six judges, one afternoon. The biggest total anybody has ever assembled.
WEEZ'S GROOVIN' BBQ at Bring'n Home the Bacon II (MASTER & BACKYARD) Oct 13, 2023
won the board
Held jointly by 2 — nobody has beaten it.
The Backyard board runs on its own scale, so it keeps its own record — pooled with Master it would never surface at all.
Pig Skin BBQ at Sam's Club National BBQ Tour Jul 11, 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.
THE SMOKE HUNTERS at Best of the Midwest BBQ Cook-off Oct 21, 2016
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.
Freeman Brothers BBQ at Deaths Door Barbecue Aug 22, 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.
T-MAC SMOKIN at Gold Ribbin' BBQ Fest of Greater Green Bay Jul 11, 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.
Totally Sauced at Sam's Club National BBQ Tour (Regional) Sep 16, 2016
finished 2nd, behind LUCKY'S Q
A day this good takes a Grand Championship almost anywhere. These are the ones that ran into somebody having a better one.
TIM'S FULL BELLI DELI at Grillin' in Grafton Jun 30, 2017
and still beat 26 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.
Bring'n Home the Bacon Day 2 (MASTER & BACKYARD) Jun 8, 2024
37 teams · won with 696.5372
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) Sep 16, 2016
30 teams · top score 705.7144
Judging tables are not interchangeable. At these contests the whole field scored high — not just the winner.
The Masters in May May 3, 2013
48 teams · even the win only took 681.1432
The other end of the same measurement: the contests where hardly anybody got a good card all day.
IOWA'S SMOKEY D'S BBQ Jun 13, 2026
50 contests · best 708.0000
Anyone can catch one good day. This is the highest anybody has averaged across a real career.
TIM'S FULL BELLI DELI at 8th Annual Poor Que Jun 9, 2017
over TOO POOR TO SCORE
Not a contest so much as an exhibition — the runner-up in each of these was closer to tenth than to the winner.
THE BBQ BUS at BBCubed - Brighton Barbeque Bash Jul 19, 2024
over SHIGGIN & GRINNIN
A whole weekend — four meats, twenty-four judging cards — decided by a rounding error.
Plus 1 championship where the top two finished dead level on points and the KCBS tiebreaker decided it — counted here rather than listed, because a board of identical 0.0000 margins says nothing about who nearly won what.
Grand Championships, reserve finishes, dynasties and droughts.
BIG "E" BBQ Oct 22, 2021
from 73 contests · first in 2015
The headline record of the sport: how many times a team has walked away with the whole thing.
IOWA'S SMOKEY D'S BBQ Sep 8, 2023
from 50 contests · 9 titles
Second overall is the hardest place to finish. These teams have done it more than anybody.
LEGENDS OF SMOKE - TEAM RED ARROW Aug 23, 2019
across 53 contests, still waiting
The cruellest record in the book. Every team here has stood on the stage second, and never once first.
LUCKY'S Q Sep 1, 2023
5 titles from 25 contests
Winning often matters more than winning a lot. This is how often a team turns up and takes the whole thing.
TIM'S FULL BELLI DELI Jun 26, 2015
the 2015 season
Held jointly by 2 — nobody has beaten it.
The best year anybody has ever had. Four in a season is a career year; these went past it.
BIG "E" BBQ Oct 22, 2021
10 titles in all
A dynasty at one contest is one kind of record. Winning at thirty different ones is another kind entirely.
TIM'S FULL BELLI DELI at Grillin' in Grafton Jun 30, 2017
won 2014–2017
The contest a team has made their own — turning up every year and taking it home again.
TIM'S FULL BELLI DELI at Grillin' in Grafton Jun 30, 2017
2014–2017, straight
Defending a title once is an achievement. Nobody on this board gave one up willingly.
Freeman Brothers BBQ at Gold Ribbin' BBQ Fest of Greater Green Bay Jul 10, 2015
won it with 691.9888
Every Grand Championship counts the same in the standings. Not every one means beating this many people.
PLASTERED PORK BBQ at Annual Poor Que Jun 8, 2018
the title finally came in 2018
Proof it is worth going back. Every team here cooked for years before the call finally came.
SHIGGIN & GRINNIN Jun 12, 2026
2015 → 2026 · 4 titles
Staying good is harder than getting good. These teams were winning contests more than a decade apart.
IOWA'S SMOKEY D'S BBQ Jul 14, 2023
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.
SHIGGIN & GRINNIN Jun 12, 2026
across all four meats
Every category win is a walk to the stage. This is the longest walk in the sport.
TIM'S FULL BELLI DELI Aug 24, 2017
the 2017 season
One team, one year, and a stack of first-place calls that would furnish most careers.
IOWA'S SMOKEY D'S BBQ Jun 13, 2026
in 2 different meats · first in 2016
A 180 means all six judges handed back a nine for appearance, taste and tenderness. These teams have collected them.
QUE U Sep 26, 2025
the 2025 season
A whole year of turning in boxes nobody at the table could mark down.
SHIGGIN & GRINNIN at Bring'n Home the Bacon Day 1 (MASTER & BACKYARD) Jun 12, 2026
first in 2022 · 89 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.
Pig Skin BBQ at Sam's Club National BBQ Tour Jul 11, 2014
Chicken · Jul 11, 2014
Where the 180 club starts. These are the oldest perfect cards anywhere in the data.
Bring'n Home the Bacon Day 1 (MASTER & BACKYARD) Jun 7, 2024
shared by 4 teams in a field of 41
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.
T-MAC SMOKIN Jun 13, 2026
2013 → 2026
Before anything else, competition barbecue is showing up. Nobody has shown up more often than this.
SMOKE INFUSION Sep 11, 2026
2013 → 2026 · 47 contests
Rigs wear out and cooks retire. These teams were still turning in boxes more than a decade after their first one.
T-MAC SMOKIN Jun 13, 2026
78 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.
IOWA'S SMOKEY D'S BBQ 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.
TIM'S FULL BELLI DELI Oct 21, 2016
the 2016 season · 2 titles
A season spent almost entirely in a parking lot somewhere, next to a smoker.
TIM'S FULL BELLI DELI Aug 30, 2019
from 75 contests
The measure of a team that is always in it — not always winning, but always there at the end of the day.
IOWA'S SMOKEY D'S BBQ Jun 13, 2026
47 from 50 contests
Consistency, stated as a percentage. Turn up, and this is how often you were still standing at the end.
SHIGGIN & GRINNIN at Bring'n Home the Bacon Day 1 (MASTER & BACKYARD) Jun 12, 2026
2020 → 2026 · won it 1×
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.
Gold Ribbin' BBQ Fest of Greater Green Bay Jul 10, 2015
won with 691.9888
The largest gathering of smokers the data has ever recorded in one place.
Puckaway Pigfest Sep 11, 2026
2017 → 2026 · about 33 teams a year
Held jointly by 2 — nobody has beaten it.
The institutions. These contests have been feeding judges for as long as the data goes back.
The Masters In May (DAY 2) May 5, 2018
3 editions · biggest 56
One big year is a fluke. These contests pull a crowd every single time they run.
Puckaway Pigfest Sep 11, 2026
from 8 editions with a champion on file
The contests nobody owns. Turn up here and last year counts for nothing.
Gold Ribbin' BBQ Fest of Greater Green Bay-Heat 1 Jul 12, 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.
Aug 23, 2013 Aug 23, 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 2016 season Oct 21, 2016
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.
Debra Gage Aug 22, 2025
2019 → 2025
The people who make a contest a contest — table captains, score checkers, keepers of the rulebook.
Debra Gage Aug 27, 2021
the 2021 season
Held jointly by 5 — nobody has beaten it.
Thirty contests in a year means most of a summer spent beside a scoring table.
Debra Gage Aug 22, 2025
at 18 contests
How many separate teams have taken a Grand Championship at a contest this rep was running.
| Team | GCs this season |
|---|---|
| SMOKEY GQ | 1 |
| SHIGGIN & GRINNIN | 1 |
| SASSY SMOKE BBQ | 1 |
| JANKY LEG BBQ | 1 |
| HOT DADDY'S BBQ | 1 |
| FENDER BENDER BBQ | 1 |
| DAWGS 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 | 4,889 | 161.35 | 176.49 | 15 | 3.1 |
| Pork Ribs | 5,957 | 161.95 | 175.41 | 4 | 0.7 |
| Pork | 4,892 | 162.77 | 176.17 | 14 | 2.9 |
| Chicken | 5,660 | 163.95 | 176.61 | 21 | 3.7 |
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.