Patent ID: 7427236

Claim:
A gaming system comprising: a shared display operated under control of a processor; and a plurality of gaming machines, each gaming machine: (a) including a game operable upon a wager by a player, (b) including a triggering event, wherein after an occurrence of said triggering event on said gaming machine, said gaming machine becomes eligible to participate in one of a plurality of secondary events, each secondary event including an activation of the shared display, wherein (i) for a first time period, said eligible gaming machine has an option to participate in a first secondary event which includes a first activation of the shared display, and (ii) for a second time period, if said eligible gaming machine does not participate in the first secondary event, said eligible gaming machine has an option to participate in a second secondary event which includes a second activation of the shared display, and (c) configured to provide one of a plurality of awards to a player of said eligible gaming machine based on the activation of the shared display of the secondary event which said gaming machine participates in, and wherein the first secondary event includes the shared display displaying a separate one of the awards for each gaming machine regardless of whether each gaming machine participates in the first secondary event, wherein a plurality of the separate awards are different.