Patent ID: 8602875

Claim:
A system for preserving persistent bonus game state data for an asynchronous persistent group bonus game, comprising: a plurality of gaming machines associated with the asynchronous persistent group bonus game, each of the plurality of gaming machines including: at least one processor, at least one input device, at least one display, at least one local non-volatile memory configured to store a plurality of instructions, which when executed by the at least one processor, causes the at least one processor to operate with the at least one display and the at least one input device to enable a player to play a primary game of chance upon receipt of a wager; and at least one network server having at least one processor and at least one non-volatile memory, the at least one processor configured to communicate with each of the plurality of gaming machines via a network to: determine whether a bonus game session is triggered on any of the plurality of gaming machines; and if the bonus game session is triggered: cause the asynchronous persistent group bonus game to be displayed for any gaming machine that has triggered the bonus game session; modify the persistent bonus game state data when an event occurs in the asynchronous persistent group bonus game; save the persistent bonus game state data in the at least one non-volatile memory; and transmit data to at least one of the plurality of gaming machines, in addition to the gaming machine that triggered the bonus game session, to display the asynchronous persistent group bonus game on the at least one display thereof, wherein the persistent bonus game state data includes at least global persistent bonus game state data and local persistent bonus game state data, and wherein a plurality of players are able to concurrently play the asynchronous persistent group bonus game.