Patent ID: 7684874

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) cause a plurality of said gaming machines to provide tournament play of a tournament by sending at least one command to said plurality of gaming machines to switch to tournament play, said tournament having a plurality of tournament game outcomes including at least one non-designated tournament game outcome and at least one designated tournament game outcome, said at least one designated tournament game outcome being the same for each tournament game; (c) enable each of a plurality of players to play tournament games in the tournament on said plurality of gaming machines; (d) for each tournament game played, generate one of the tournament game outcomes, (e) at an end of the tournament, determine which player had the most generations of the at least one designated tournament game outcome, said generations being at least two; and (f) notify said player that said player wins an award, said notification occurring regardless of the generated non-designated tournament game outcomes.