A tough matchup
4–0
behind in the head-to-head
Poppin Smoke BBQ ahead in 100% of their meetings
Poppin Smoke BBQ has come out ahead in 4 of their 4 shared contests.
Kingdom Que BBQ
At a glance (everything the results say about this team, in numbers)
Rating
1475
peak 1475 · rated over 5 contests ⓘ
Contests
6
in the data
First seen
2024-03-22
latest 2026-06-12
Best ToY finish
#205
Backyard 2025
Grand champs
0
0 reserve
Category wins
0
0 podiums
Overall top-10s
1
of 6 contests
Avg finish
top 72%
overall standings
Perfect 180s
0
Current form
317.10
last 5 Backyard vs avg 317.10 (+0.00)
Walk rate
33%
contests with a top-10 call
Consistency
±6.31
std dev of Backyard overall scores (lower = steadier)
Strongest meat
Chicken
avg 163.18 · weakest Pork Ribs (153.27)
Road miles
270
mi across 6 mapped stops · furthest 196 mi
Schedule strength
62%
of rated fields were softer than their average draw (1578)
Purse competed for
$28K
listed at 5 contests — purses, not winnings
State championships
0 🏅
GCs in 2 state-championship entries
Backyard avg
317.10 / 360
5 Backyard contests · 0 GCs
This team cooks the Backyard series — its own boards, records and Team of the Year are here.
Storylines (2 found in this team's record)
Each card leads with the number that made it a story — read straight out of their results, no editorialising.
The weak link
−9.9
points behind their best meat
Pork Ribs is where the weekend gets away from them — it averages 9.91 points below their chicken, and turns into a call 14% of the time against 40%.
- Pork Ribs avg 153.27
- Chicken avg 163.18
- 1 calls in 7 entries
Teams like this (closest power rating)
The nearest teams in the power rankings, with a different reason on each card — six teams on one rating are rarely on it for the same reason. Rating decides who makes the list; where teams tie on it, the ones this team has actually cooked against come first, then teams at a similar point in their own career. KCBS doesn’t publish where a team is from, so nothing here is inferred from geography.
145 rated teams sit within a point of this rating, so a place on this list means the numbers match — no more than that.
#4348 of the rated field
- Contests
- 5
- GCs
- 0
- Top-10s
- 0%
- Peak
- 1505
No shared contest yet.
They've been 1505 at their best, 30 points above where they sit today — they're arriving at this rating from above.
⚔ Head-to-head#4324 of the rated field
- Contests
- 5
- GCs
- 0
- Top-10s
- 0%
- Peak
- 1503
No shared contest yet.
Careers of much the same size, 5 contests to 6, so neither rating has had more chance to settle than the other.
⚔ Head-to-head#4357 of the rated field
- Contests
- 5
- GCs
- 0
- Top-10s
- 0%
- Peak
- 1475
No shared contest yet.
Their last contest in the data was back in 2023, 3 years before Kingdom Que BBQ's most recent — their rating stopped moving when they stopped cooking.
⚔ Head-to-head#4340 of the rated field
- Contests
- 5
- GCs
- 0
- Top-10s
- 0%
- Peak
- 1501
No shared contest yet.
They were already cooking in 2013, 11 years before Kingdom Que BBQ's first contest.
⚔ Head-to-head#4359 of the rated field
- Contests
- 5
- GCs
- 0
- Top-10s
- 0%
- Peak
- 1475
No shared contest yet.
Level with Kingdom Que BBQ on power rating, which is the whole reason they're on the list.
⚔ Head-to-head#4371 of the rated field
- Contests
- 5
- GCs
- 0
- Top-10s
- 0%
- Peak
- 1475
No shared contest yet.
Their last contest in the data was back in 2016, 10 years before Kingdom Que BBQ's most recent — their rating stopped moving when they stopped cooking.
⚔ Head-to-headBy meat
| Category | Entries | Calls | Wins | Podiums | Best | Worst | Average | Avg finish |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Chicken | 5 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 168.6060 | 156.5600 | 163.18 | top 67% |
| Pork Ribs | 7 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 160.5372 | 143.3828 | 153.27 | top 79% |
| Pork | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | — | — | — | — |
| Brisket | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | — | — | — | — |
“Calls” = top-10 category finishes (getting called to the stage). Scores here are the final weighted totals KCBS publishes; per-criterion appearance/taste/tenderness marks aren’t in the public results feed.
By state / province
| Where | Contests | GCs | Avg finish |
|---|---|---|---|
| MO | 4 | 0 | top 78% |
| KS | 1 | 0 | top 47% |
By contest size
| Field | Contests | GCs | Avg finish |
|---|---|---|---|
| Small (<20 teams) | 1 | 0 | top 100% |
| Medium (20–39) | 4 | 0 | top 65% |
Contest-by-contest record (recurring contests they've cooked twice or more)
| Contest | Visits | Best | GCs | Avg finish | Last visit |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| American Royal World Series of Barbecue Backyard Contest | 2 | 25 | 0 | top 90% | 2026-03-20 |
| Cameron Elks BBQ Cook-Off (Backyard 2) | 2 | 10 | 0 | top 65% | 2025-07-11 |
The story so far (17 numbers that describe this team)
On the trail
2.2 yrs
2024-03-22 → 2026-06-12
Busiest season
2025
3 contests
Contests a season
2
across 3 seasons in the data
Cooks most in
MO
5 of 6 contests · 2 states/provinces in all
Contests visited
3
2 of them cooked more than once
Most-entered meat
Pork Ribs
7 entries · 0 wins · 1 calls
Strongest meat
Chicken
averages 163.18 · weakest Pork Ribs (153.27)
Walk rate
33%
a top-10 call in 2 of 6 contests
Overall top-10 rate
17%
1 of 6 contests
Backyard average
317.10
out of 360 · 5 contests · 0 GCs
Opponents faced
132
53–117 across every shared overall standing
Road miles
270
6 mapped stops · furthest 196 mi
Schedule strength
1578
average field rating faced — tougher than 62% of rated contests
Purse competed for
$27,840
listed at 5 contests — purses, not winnings
State championships
0
from 2 state-championship entries
Longest layoff
1.3 yrs
2024-03-22 → 2025-07-11
Power rating
1475
peak 1475 · #4350 of 6,413 rated
Milestones (the firsts, the round numbers and the personal bests)
- 2024
- First tracked contest American Royal World Series of Barbecue Backyard Contest
- 2025
- First call Cameron Elks BBQ Cook-Off
- First overall top-10 Cameron Elks BBQ Cook-Off (Backyard 2)
- Career-best single call (Chicken)168.6060 Cameron Elks BBQ Cook-Off
- Peak power rating (1499) Cameron Elks BBQ Cook-Off
- 2026
- First overall past 90% of a perfect score329.0744 Smoke on the Plains BBQ & Music Fest
- Career-best overall score329.0744 Smoke on the Plains BBQ & Music Fest
- Most recent contest Smoke on the Plains BBQ & Music Fest
Power rating over time (1500 = average; recomputed nightly)
📈 Biggest rating jumps
| Swing | Contest | Date |
|---|---|---|
| +6 | Cameron Elks BBQ Cook-Off | 2025-07-11 |
| +1.4 | Smoke on the Plains BBQ & Music Fest | 2026-06-12 |
📉 Toughest weekends
| Swing | Contest | Date |
|---|---|---|
| -13.3 | American Royal World Series of Barbecue Backyard Contest | 2026-03-20 |
| -11.2 | Cameron Elks BBQ Cook-Off (Backyard 2) | 2025-07-11 |
| -7.5 | American Royal World Series of Barbecue Backyard Contest | 2024-03-22 |
Category scores over time
Overall finish over time (top-% of field, lower is better)
Where they finish (overall)
Best vs average (by meat)
How entries end (by meat)
Team of the Year rank by season
Season by season
| Season | Contests | GCs | Top-10s | Category wins | Walk rate | Avg finish | Best overall (% of perfect) | Avg overall (% of perfect) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2026 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0% | top 74% | 91.4% | 89.7% |
| 2025 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 67% | top 65% | 86.7% | 86.7% |
| 2024 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0% | top 81% | 87.6% | 87.6% |
Contest history (click a row for the event, a column to sort)
| Date | Event | Overall | Chicken | Ribs | Pork | Brisket |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2026-06-12 | Smoke on the Plains BBQ & Music Fest 🏅 Derby, KS | 17 / 36 (329.0744) | 14 (168.5372) | 17 (160.5372) | — | — |
| 2026-03-20 | American Royal World Series of Barbecue Backyard Contest Kansas City, MO | 33 / 33 (317.0860) | 30 (163.4172) | 33 (153.6688) | — | — |
| 2025-10-03 | Gladstone Smokefest (ONE MEAT RIBS) Gladstone, MO | — | — | 14 (156.5256) | — | — |
| 2025-07-11 | Cameron Elks BBQ Cook-Off (Backyard 2) Cameron, MO | 10 / 10 (311.9660) | 10 (156.5600) | 10 (155.4060) | — | — |
| 2025-07-11 | Cameron Elks BBQ Cook-Off 🏅 Cameron, MO | 11 / 36 (311.9888) | 9 (168.6060) | 12 (143.3828) | — | — |
| 2024-03-22 | American Royal World Series of Barbecue Backyard Contest Kansas City, MO | 25 / 31 (315.3712) | 25 (158.7768) | 28 (156.5944) | — | — |
Career map (orange GC · green top-10 · grey the rest — tap a pin)
Team of the Year standings (rank per category by season — year links to the full board on kcbs.us)
| Year | Series | Overall | Chicken | Ribs | Pork | Brisket |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2026 ↗ | Backyard | #211 (141 pts) | #212 (156 pts) | #235 (141 pts) | — | — |
| 2025 ↗ | Backyard | #205 (217 pts) | #204 (232 pts) | #220 (212 pts) | — | — |
| 2025 ↗ | Master | — | — | #1230 (82 pts) | — | — |