Patent ID: 8574067

Claim:
A gaming system comprising: a central controller configured to operate with a plurality of gaming machines, each of the gaming machines including at least one processor; at least one display device; at least one input 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 enable a player to play a game, wherein the central controller is configured to operate with the gaming machines to: (a) for each of the gaming machines, upon an occurrence of a point accumulation event in association with a play of the game of said gaming machine, accumulate a quantity of points for a player of said gaming machine; (b) determine whether a designated event occurred in association with a predetermined quantity of plays of the games of the gaming machines; (c) if the designated event did not occur in association with the predetermined quantity of plays of the games of the gaming machines: (i) for each of the gaming machines, determine a total quantity of accumulated points for the player of said gaming machine; (ii) determine, based on the total quantities of accumulated points of the players of the gaming machines, at least one of the gaming machines to provide a first award for a non-occurrence of the designated event; and (iii) cause the determined at least one of the gaming machines to display and provide the first award to the player of said determined at least one of the gaming machines; and (d) if the designated event occurred in association with the predetermined quantity of plays of the games of the gaming machines, cause at least one of the gaming machines to display and provide a designated award to the player of said at least one of the gaming machines.