Whew! The tournament, at least in my eyes, is over and was a huge success!
The tournmanet sold out on Friday night, but we ended up with a cancellation, a no-show, and a player who showed up just in case any of the previous things happened, so we played with a field of 15. It required some three-player games, and not everyone got the same number of those, but I think we did the best given the circumstances.
I can't say enough good things about the competitors we had. I was having nightmares the day before the tournament about what I'd need to do if people didn't shuffle properly, if someone claimed a game should be null and void if someone revealed cards at an incorrect moment, etc, but absolutely none of that came up. Everyone was a good sport and competed fairly, and it looked like everyone had tons of fun. The only problem we had was when a player bought the second-to-last province at his table, only to reveal an estate below it. They called me over, explained the problem (they had no idea if the stack had originally contained 11 or 12 provinces), and asked what to do, since they knew they couldn't look through their own decks to check. I ended up doing that for them (without changing any orders), discovered they had 12 Provinces already bought (that estate belonged in the supply and was just in the wrong stack), and all players agreed that meant the game was over. Another moment where I was impressed with the players.
The kingdoms we played were as follows:
Round 1: Native Village, Crossroads, Watchtower, Trader, Talisman, Monument, Scout*, Moneylender, Contraband, Expand
Round 2: Moat, Courtyard, Village, Smugglers, Treasure Map, Pirate Ship, Navigator, Mining Village, Mint, Council Room
Round 3: Transmute*, Fools Gold, Woodcutter, Shanty Town, Oasis, Loan, Bureaucrat, Bishop, Venture, Fairgrounds
Round 4: University, Workshop, Worker's Village, Throne Room, Remodel, Quarry, Baron, Trading Post, Embassy, Bazaar
Finals: Herbalist, Sage, Lookout, Coppersmith, Soothsayer, Horn of Plenty, Graverobber, Baker, Border Village, Farmland
*I saw both these cards purchased at least onceWe ended up with a three-way tie for the 3rd and 4th spots in the finals that came down to the second tiebreaker (most 1st-place finishes), which gave a little extra thrill to the proceedings.
And when it was all said and done, f.ds's own ADK took home the gold. Congrats!
I learned a lot as an organizer and look forward to (hopefully) running another Dominion tournament in the near future (likely with a different format). Thanks again to all who came out!