Patent ID: 8342944

Claim:
A gaming system configured to exchange persistent state data between a wagering game and a persistent state hardware device, the wagering game including one or more persistent game states of a plurality of game states, the one or more persistent game states being represented by corresponding persistent state data that, when loaded into the wagering game, establish the wagering game at the corresponding persistent game state, the gaming system comprising: one or more input devices, one or more display devices; one or more persistent state hardware devices; one or more processors; and one or more memory devices storing instructions including a wagering game program and a persistent state manager module, the instructions, when executed by at least one of the one or more processors, causing the gaming system to: receive, via at least one of the one or more input devices, an input from a player indicative of a wager to initiate the wagering game; randomly select, via at least one of the one or more processors, an outcome of the wagering game; display to the player, on at least one of the one or more display devices, the randomly selected outcome; responsive to a request for persistent state output, send a first store-state message, from the wagering game program to the persistent state manager module, containing first persistent state data related to at least one of the one or more persistent game states, wherein identity and initialization information of the one or more persistent state hardware devices is unavailable to the wagering game program; and responsive to receipt of the first store-state message by the persistent state manager module, send a second store-state message, from the persistent state manager module to at least one of the one or more persistent state hardware devices, the identity and initialization information of the one or more persistent state hardware devices being available to the persistent state manager module, and the second store-state message causing the first persistent state data to be written to data media by the at least one persistent state hardware device.