Patent ID: 8197331

Claim:
A gaming system comprising: a plurality of gaming machines adapted to display at least one primary wagering game thereon, at least one community display for displaying at least a portion of a community event thereon; and at least one controller in communication with the at least one community display and the plurality of gaming machines, the controller being operative to, (i) select one or more gaming machines from the plurality of gaming machines to participate in the community event; (ii) display a plurality of groups of one or more non-numerical award icons representing communal awards during the community event; (iii) change the award icons during play of at least one of the primary wagering game and the community event; (iv) assign a group selected from the plurality of groups to each participating gaming machine; (v) display a plurality of different non-numerical graphical indicators representing bonus-game enhancements, the graphical indicators being visually related and assigned to respective ones of the award icons; (vi) assign a graphical indicator selected from the graphical indicators to each participating gaming machine; (vii) visually change an appearance of the graphical indicator based on play of the primary wagering game at the assigned gaming machine so as to represent a change in value of the bonus-game enhancement represented by the graphical indicator; and (viii) provide a community event award to each participating gaming machine based on the group and the graphical indicator assigned to the participating gaming machine, the community event award being enhanced if one or more of the one or more award icons in the group are assigned the graphical indicator.