Patent ID: 8678900

Claim:
A gaming system comprising: a plurality of gaming machines, each gaming machine programmed, for each of a plurality of plays of a primary game, to: (a) receive a signal indicating a wager from a player, (b) cause a display of an image associated with said play of the primary game, and (c) determine a game outcome associated with said play of the primary game; and at least one computer programmed to: (a) cause an ongoing bonus game to be altered a plurality of times independent of any input from any player of any of the gaming machines, said alteration occurring prior to determining that a qualifying activity has occurred for any of the plurality of gaming machines; (b) determine if the qualifying activity occurs based on any play of the primary game of any of the gaming machines; (c) after determining that the qualifying activity has occurred for a first one of the gaming machines played by a first player, enable the first player to participate in the ongoing bonus game and cause play of the ongoing bonus game to be altered based on a non-wager input to the ongoing bonus game provided by the first player during play of the ongoing bonus game, said alteration being independent of any game outcome associated with the primary game; (d) after receiving the non-wager input from the first player, receive a termination input and, after receiving the termination input, terminate the first player's participation in the ongoing bonus game; and (e) after the termination input is received until the qualifying activity is determined to have occurred again for at least one of the plurality of gaming machines, cause play of the ongoing bonus game to be altered a plurality of times independent of the non-wager input from the first player, said alteration occurring regardless of whether any non-wager input is received from any player at any of the plurality of gaming machines.