Tournament systems

I've been thinking about the tournaments in the board game club. In 2001, we had a very simple tournament. In our December meeting, we played a four-game tournament and the winner got the prize. This year, a small one-game tournament was played every time and the finals in the December meeting. That was better, but still not perfect. The tournament games take a lot of time. When El Grande was the tourney game, we had to play two first round games and a final with only one set, which took a lot of time and tied up many players.

Now, with some help from my friends, I've come up with a better plan. We'll choose a game for three meetings (using the same popularity criteria as before). Instead of organizing formal tournaments, everyone can play the game and gain points according to their placement. After every three meeting the points are counted and Tournament Points awarded. After that a new game is chosen.

In the end of the year, the players with most Tournament Points will meet in a final match-up and the winner will get the prize. I'll have to work on the details, but this sounds like a better system.