Gaming system having multiple gaming machines which provide bonus awards
First Claim
1. A gaming system comprisinga controller;
- a plurality of gaming machines in communication with the controller, each gaming machine including a primary game operable upon a wager placed by a player;
an accumulated wager pool maintained by the controller, said accumulated wager pool based at least in part on the wagers placed on the primary games of the gaming machines; and
a plurality of bonus awards, each bonus award configured to be displayed and provided to the player of one of the gaming machines selected by the controller based on the accumulated wager pool and independent of any event in or of any play of any of the primary games of the gaming machines, said bonus award selected from said plurality of bonus awards by said selected gaming machine independent of the accumulated wager pool;
wherein the controller is programmed to;
(a) for each gaming machine, maintain a total of the wagers placed on the primary game of said gaming machine during a bonus event accumulation period for the bonus award;
(b) maintain the accumulated wager pool including a total of the wagers on the primary games of all of gaming machines during the bonus event accumulation period for the bonus award;
(c) determine at designated intervals during the bonus event accumulation period if a bonus event will occur; and
(d) if the bonus event is determined to occur;
(i) determine which of the gaming machines were in an active state during a bonus event qualification period for said bonus event, and(ii) select at least one of the gaming machines in the active state.
1 Assignment
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Accused Products
Abstract
A gaming system including a central server linked to a plurality of gaming machines and a plurality of bonus awards. The central server monitors wagers on the gaming machines. Based at least in part on the wagers the central server determines when bonus events will occur and which gaming machine(s) will provide the bonus awards. In one embodiment, the central server determines which gaming machine will provide a primary bonus award and any secondary bonus awards. In one embodiment, the number of secondary bonus awards is determined based on the number of active gaming machines. The selected gaming machine then determines a component of or the amount of the bonus award to be provided to the gaming machine selected by the central server.
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Citations
46 Claims
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1. A gaming system comprising
a controller; -
a plurality of gaming machines in communication with the controller, each gaming machine including a primary game operable upon a wager placed by a player; an accumulated wager pool maintained by the controller, said accumulated wager pool based at least in part on the wagers placed on the primary games of the gaming machines; and a plurality of bonus awards, each bonus award configured to be displayed and provided to the player of one of the gaming machines selected by the controller based on the accumulated wager pool and independent of any event in or of any play of any of the primary games of the gaming machines, said bonus award selected from said plurality of bonus awards by said selected gaming machine independent of the accumulated wager pool; wherein the controller is programmed to; (a) for each gaming machine, maintain a total of the wagers placed on the primary game of said gaming machine during a bonus event accumulation period for the bonus award; (b) maintain the accumulated wager pool including a total of the wagers on the primary games of all of gaming machines during the bonus event accumulation period for the bonus award; (c) determine at designated intervals during the bonus event accumulation period if a bonus event will occur; and (d) if the bonus event is determined to occur; (i) determine which of the gaming machines were in an active state during a bonus event qualification period for said bonus event, and (ii) select at least one of the gaming machines in the active state. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14)
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15. A gaming system comprising:
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a plurality of gaming machines, each gaming machine including a primary game operable upon a wager placed by a player; and a controller in communication with said gaming machines, wherein the controller is programmed to; (a) for each gaming machine, maintain a total of the wagers placed on the primary game of said gaming machine during a bonus event accumulation period; (b) maintain a total of the wagers placed on the primary games of all of gaming machines during the bonus event accumulation period; (c) determine at designated intervals during the bonus event accumulation period if a bonus event will occur; and (d) if the bonus event is determined to occur; (i) determine which of the gaming machines were in an active state during a bonus event qualification period for said bonus event, (ii) select at least one of the gaming machines in the active state based on the total wagers placed during the bonus event accumulation period for each of the gaming machines in the active state relative to the total wagers placed for all of the gaming machines in the active state during the bonus event accumulation period, and (iii) send a signal to the selected gaming machine to provide a bonus award to the player of said gaming machine, wherein said selected gaming machine at least in part determines the bonus award to display and provide to the player. - View Dependent Claims (16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35)
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36. A gaming system comprising:
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a plurality of gaming machines, each gaming machine including a primary game operable upon a wager placed by a player; and a controller in communication with said gaming machines, wherein the controller is programmed to; (a) for each gaming machine, maintain a total of the wagers placed on the primary game of said gaming machine during a bonus event accumulation period; (b) maintain a total of the wagers placed on the primary games of all of gaming machines during the bonus event accumulation period; (c) determine at designated intervals during the bonus event accumulation period if a bonus event will occur; (d) if the bonus event is determined to occur; (i) determine which of the gaming machines were in an active state during a bonus event qualification period for said bonus event accumulation period by determining for each gaming machine if a wager was placed on the primary game of that gaming machine during the bonus event qualification period, wherein the bonus event qualification period is a designated period of time before the occurrence of the bonus event, (ii) select at least one of the gaming machines in the active state based on the total wagers placed during the bonus event accumulation period for each of the gaming machines in the active state relative to the total wagers placed for all of the gaming machines in the active state during the bonus event accumulation period, and (iii) send at least one signal to the selected gaming machine to provide a bonus award to the player of said selected gaming machine, wherein said signal includes a multiplier component for the bonus award and wherein said selected gaming machine determines a value component for the bonus award. - View Dependent Claims (37, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44, 45, 46)
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Specification