Patent ID: 8033912

Claim:
A gaming system comprising: a plurality of gaming machines, each of said gaming machines including: a display device; an input device; a gaming machine processor; and a memory device which stores a plurality of instructions, which when executed by the gaming machine processor, cause the gaming machine processor to operate with the display device and the input device to: (a) enable a player to place a wager on a play of a primary game; (b) for the play of the primary game: (i) generate a primary game outcome, (ii) display the generated primary game outcome, (iii) determine any monetary award associated with the generated primary game outcome, and (iv) provide any determined monetary award associated with the generated primary game outcome to the player; (c) determine if a bonus qualification event occurs; and (d) for each occurrence of the bonus qualification event, accumulate at least one bonus qualification; and a central controller configured to communicate with each of the gaming machines, said central controller programmed to: (a) maintain a bonus pool associated with a community bonus game, wherein the bonus pool includes an allocated portion of wagers placed on the gaming machines; (b) determine if a bonus game triggering event has occurred; and (c) if the bonus game triggering event has occurred: (i) cause each of said plurality of gaming machines to enable the player playing at said gaming machine to utilize a number of the bonus qualifications accumulated at said gaming machine to simultaneously participate in a play of the community bonus game, (ii) for each participating player, determine a stake in the bonus pool associated with said player, said stake in the bonus pool determined based on the number of bonus qualifications utilized by said player to participate in the play of the bonus game; (iii) cause a display of the play of the community bonus game, (iv) determine an outcome for the play of the community bonus game, and (v) for each gaming machine being played by one of said participating players, cause said gaming machine to provide an award to said player based at least in part on the determined outcome for the play of the community bonus game, wherein for at least one of said participating players, said award is based, at least in part, on the determined stake in the bonus pool associated with said player and said each award is provided from the bonus pool.