Patent ID: 8382572

Claim:
A gaming system comprising: a plurality of gaming devices, each gaming device including at least one input device; at least one display device associated with at least one of said gaming devices; and at least one controller configured to operate with each of said gaming devices and said at least one display device to: (a) for each of said players at each of said gaming devices: (i) upon an occurrence of a bonus event point accumulation event, accumulate a first quantity of bonus event points, and (ii) upon an occurrence of a bonus event point reduction event, reduce any accumulated bonus event points by a second quantity of bonus event points; and (b) upon an occurrence of a competitive group race bonus event triggering condition: (i) for each player having at least a designated balance of bonus event points, determine a relative starting position in a competitive group race bonus event, wherein said relative starting position in the competitive group race bonus event is based on said player's current balance of bonus event points, (ii) cause a display of each of the determined relative starting positions, (iii) cause a display of a play of the competitive group race bonus event, (iv) determine one of the players to win the displayed competitive group race bonus event, wherein said determination is based, at least in part, on the determined relative starting positions, and (v) cause a bonus event award to be displayed and provided to the player determined to win the displayed competitive group race bonus event.