Patent ID: 8109822

Claim:
A gaming machine comprising: plural stations each of which determines a game result and executes a game independently; and a processor which executes: (a) a process to execute a base game independently at each station; (b) a process to accept each station's entry to an event game executed in common to the plural stations when a predetermined condition is satisfied; (c) a process to collect an entry fee in exchange for an entry to the event game from a station of which entry to the event game has been accepted, wherein the entry fee is collected as a gaming value which is consumed in exchange for playing the game; (d) a process to execute the event game in a station of which entry fee has been collected; and (e) a process to accumulatively add the entry fee collected at each station as part of a payout amount of the event game, wherein the payout amount of the event game, including entry fees currently accumulated, is awarded based on an event game result when the event game is finished; wherein the predetermined condition of process (b) is satisfied when the payout amount of the event game, including the entry fees currently accumulated, exceeds a predetermined amount; wherein, as more gaming value is used at a given station during the base game, a contribution rank for the given station is set higher; and wherein, as the contribution rank for the given station is set higher, the entry fee to be collected for the given station is set lower.