Mystery Thing
Administrator
Protecting the connection with a key (above WEP strength) posted inside the venue should be enough for security.
You... probably shouldn't try this with hundreds of people intending to connect to a single router. I haven't tried this myself (I do however know it's possible in theory), but I'd imagine you'd be fine with anywhere shy of 50 connections, assuming your router allows that many, and as long as not everyone tries to connect to the server at the same time. Between 50 and 100 would probably be stretching it, but could work with a good router. I didn't really think of these huge events though, I was thinking more about the midsize ones scattered around the world in remote locations without Internet access.
The debate then is what happens if somebody signs up for the tourney, gets the key, and passes it on.
But if you're only going to do it for a 50ish person tournament, is there any point in doing it at all? It's not like it takes 50 people that long to look at a piece of paper, especially if you post it twice.