Patent ID: 7572182

Claim:
A method of operating a gaming machine, the method comprising: receiving a wager from a player, causing a display device to display a play of an underlying game of chance which results in a first outcome displayed to the player, said first outcome dependent upon at least one random determination, said first outcome capable of resulting in a first payout to the player, said underlying game of chance having a first house advantage, causing the display device to display a play of a knowledge-based bonus game using answers inputted by the player which are dependent on the knowledge of the player and are inputted in response to a plurality of queries provided to the player, in combination with the play of the underlying game of chance, wherein each query is associated with one of a plurality of different individual minimum values and one of a plurality of different individual maximum values, said play of said knowledge-based bonus game resulting in a second outcome provided to the player, said second outcome capable of resulting in a second payout to the player, if the first outcome results in the first payout, providing the first payout to the player even if the second payout is not provided to the player, if the second outcome results in the second payout, providing the second payout to the player even if the first payout is not provided to the player, and said knowledge-based bonus game configured to maintain within a range a second house advantage for the combined knowledge-based bonus game with the underlying game of chance, wherein said range is defined by an overall minimum value and an overall maximum value and is configured to account for a first expected return provided by the play of the knowledge-based bonus game by the player guessing answers and a second expected return provided to the player having perfect knowledge of answers, wherein at least one of said overall minimum value and said overall maximum value are configured to change for different plays of the knowledge-based bonus game during a single gaming session by the player, wherein said overall minimum value and said overall maximum value are determined for each play of the knowledge-based bonus game based on the individual minimum values and individual maximum values associated with each of said plurality of queries provided to the player during said play of the knowledge-based bonus game and wherein at least two different queries which are associated with different minimum values or different maximum values are provided during two different plays of the knowledge-based bonus game.