Patent ID: 8371938

Claim:
A gaming system comprising: a plurality of gaming devices, each gaming device including: a display device, an input device, a processor, and a memory device which stores a plurality of instructions, which when executed by the processor, cause the processor to operate with the display device and the input device to enable a player to play a primary wagering game; a shared display device associated with the plurality of gaming devices; and a central controller configured to communicate with each of the gaming devices and programmed to operate with the shared display device to: (a) determine if a bonus game triggering event occurs, and (b) if the bonus game triggering event is determined to occur: (i) determine if a shared display device qualifying condition is satisfied, (ii) if the shared display device qualifying condition is satisfied, cause said shared display device to display at least one play of a first bonus game, each play of the first bonus game including: (A) causing said shared display device to display a first randomly determined symbol combination on a plurality of displayed reels, (B) determining if the first randomly determined symbol combination is associated with any awards, and (C) causing said shared display device to display any determined awards, and (iii) if the shared display device qualifying condition is not satisfied, cause one of the gaming devices associated with the occurrence of the bonus game triggering event to display at least one play of a second bonus game, each play of the second bonus game including causing: (A) the display device of said gaming device to display a second randomly determined symbol combination on a plurality of displayed reels, (B) said gaming device to determine if the second randomly determined symbol combination is associated with any awards, and (C) the display device of said gaming device to display any determined awards.