Patent ID: 8777744

Claim:
A gaming system comprising: at least one processor; at least one display device; at least one input device; at least one output device; and at least one memory device storing a plurality of instructions which, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the at least one processor to operate with the at least one display device and the at least one input device to: (a) provide a play of a musical game associated with: (i) a plurality of different musical instruments, one or more of the musical instruments initially being in an unlocked state and one or more of the musical instruments initially being in a locked state; and (ii) a plurality of different instrument playing events each associated with one or more of the musical instruments, wherein at least one of the instrument playing events is not associated with at least one of the musical instruments; and (b) for said play of the musical game: (i) upon an occurrence of one of the instrument playing events: (1) for each of the one or more musical instruments associated with said instrument playing event: (A) if said musical instrument is in the unlocked state, produce at least one sound associated with said musical instrument and provide an award associated with said musical instrument; and (B) if said musical instrument is in the locked state, not produce the at least one sound associated with said musical instrument and not provide the award associated with said musical instrument; and (2) for each of any musical instruments not associated with said instrument playing event, not produce at least one sound associated with said musical instrument and not provide an award associated with said musical instrument regardless of whether said musical instrument is in the locked state or the unlocked state; and (ii) upon an occurrence of an instrument unlock event, if any of the musical instruments are in the locked state: (A) determine whether to unlock at least one of the musical instruments in the locked state; (B) if it is determined to unlock at least one of the musical instruments in the locked state, change the state of at least one of the musical instruments in the locked state from the locked state to the unlocked state; and (C) if it is determined not to unlock any of the musical instruments in the locked state, not change the state of any of the musical instruments in the locked state from the locked state to the unlocked state.