Patent ID: 7689302

Claim:
A gaming system comprising: at least one central controller; and a plurality of gaming machines, each gaming machine configured to communicate with the at least one central controller, said at least one central controller and said gaming machines configured to: (a) enable a plurality of players to play non-tournament games at the gaming machines; (b) provide tournament play by enabling each of a plurality of qualified tournament players to play tournament games in a tournament on said plurality of gaming machines and for each said tournament game played, provide a tournament game outcome based on a first paytable; (c) upon a random occurrence of a triggering event during the tournament at one of the tournament player's gaming machines, for each of a designated number of other tournament players, for each tournament game played by said other tournament player after the occurrence of the triggering event, provide a tournament game outcome based on a second paytable, said designated number being greater than one and less than a total number of said other tournament players; (d) at an end of the tournament, determine a tournament winner; (e) notify said tournament winner that the tournament winner wins an award; and (f) display an indication of the award to be provided to said tournament winner.