Patent ID: 8430738

Claim:
A method for providing a multi-player wagering game on a gaming network having a plurality of gaming units wherein each player has at least one game array having a unique combination of indicia from a range of game indicia for an occurrence of the wagering game, wherein individual game indicia are randomly selected from the range of game indicia during the occurrence of the wagering game and transmitted to the gaming units over the gaming network, and wherein at least one of the players wins the occurrence of the wagering game by matching a game-winning pattern, or one of a plurality of game-winning patterns, of game indicia on at least one of the real player's game arrays with the randomly selected game indicia, the method comprising: enrolling a plurality of real players at corresponding gaming units for an occurrence of the multi-player wagering game, wherein each occurrence of the multi-player wagering game includes a predetermined total number of game arrays, and wherein each real player has a plurality of game arrays for the occurrence of the multi-player wagering game; determining whether the number of game arrays distributed to the real players is equal to the predetermined total number of game arrays; enrolling a virtual player in the occurrence of the multi-player wagering game if it is determined that the number of game arrays distributed to the real players is less than the predetermined total number of game arrays; randomly selecting game indicia from the range of game indicia; determining whether each randomly selected game indicia matches any of the game indicia of the at least one game array for each player in the order that the randomly selected game indicia are selected; determining that at least one game array for the occurrence of the multi-player wagering game has matched a game-winning pattern of game indicia on the player's game array with the randomly selected game indicia in the fewest number of randomly selected game indicia, wherein the fewest number of randomly selected game indicia changes when the predetermined total number of game arrays changes; and determining a game-winning award amount for each player having at least one game array matching a game-winning pattern in the fewest number of randomly selected game indicia, wherein each player receives a game-winning award for each of the at least one game arrays matching the game-winning pattern in the fewest number of randomly selected game indicia.