Patent ID: 8393952

Claim:
A method of operating a gaming system, said method comprising: (a) causing at least one processor to execute a plurality of instructions stored in at least one memory device to operate with at least one display device to display a plurality of accumulators; (b) causing the at least one processor to execute the plurality of instructions to operate with at least one input device to, for each of a designated number of amplifiers, enable a player to assign each of said amplifiers to any one of a designated number of the accumulators, wherein: (i) the designated number of amplifiers is at least two, (ii) the designated number of accumulators is at least two, and (iii) each accumulator has a default rate of advancement; (c) causing the at least one processor to execute the plurality of instructions to operate with the at least one display device to, for each accumulator assigned with one or more of the amplifiers, display an indication that said accumulator has one or more assigned amplifiers; (d) causing the at least one processor to execute the plurality of instructions to, for each accumulator, when an accumulator advancement triggering event occurs for said accumulator, cause the accumulator to advance, wherein: (i) if one or more of the amplifiers is not assigned to the accumulator associated with the accumulator advancement triggering event, said accumulator advancement occurs at the default rate of advancement, and (ii) if one or more of the amplifiers is assigned to the accumulator associated with the accumulator advancement triggering event, said accumulator advancement occurs at a greater rate than the default rate of advancement for said accumulator; and (e) causing the at least one processor to execute the plurality of instructions to, if a bonus triggering event occurs, cause an award to be provided to the player based, at least in part, on a level of one or more of the accumulators.