Patent ID: 7824264

Claim:
A system for awarding a random bonus award, comprising: a gaming machine; a set of bonus awards including at least two bonus awards, including at least a default award and a plurality of non-default awards wherein the default award is reused after being awarded during an active bonus session and wherein each of the non-default awards is used a single time during the active bonus session; a criterion dependent on at least one of a status of a player and an action of the player; a player tracking database communicatively coupled to the gaming machine using a network, the database comprising a session identifier configured to indicate that a bonus session is active if the player has not received a bonus award from the set of bonus awards during a session; a selector configured to select a bonus award at random from the set of bonus awards if the session identifier indicates that the bonus session is active; and an awarder configured to deliver the selected bonus award to the player after the player meets the criterion.