Descending Qualification Community Game

Abstract

A community gaming system includes a community game server that compares gaming outcomes of gaming devices to determine whether the gaming devices qualify for a community game. For a first set of gaming devices, the community game server compares a gaming device outcome against a first qualifying outcome having a first qualifying probability. The qualifying probability is then modified and a second qualifying outcome based on the modified qualifying probability is used to qualify a second set of gaming devices. A community prize may be awarded to winning gaming devices in proportion to the qualifying probabilities for the respective gaming devices.

1 . A gaming system comprising:
 (A) a plurality of gaming devices, each gaming device configured to allow a player to place a wager and play a game to produce a game outcome;   (B) a community game server configured to:
 (a) determine whether a game outcome of a respective gaming device is a qualifying outcome for a community game; 
 (b) determine a community game outcome; 
 (c) wherein determining whether a game outcome is a qualifying outcome comprises:
 (i) for at least one first gaming device, comparing the game outcome of the first gaming device with a first qualifying game outcome; 
 (ii) for at least one second gaming device, comparing the game outcome of the second gaming device with a second qualifying game outcome. 
 
   
   
   
       2 . The gaming system of  claim 1  wherein the first qualifying game outcome has a different probability to the second qualifying game outcome. 
   
   
       3 . The gaming system of  claim 2  wherein the community game server is configured to distribute a community prize to at least one gaming device qualified for the community game. 
   
   
       4 . The gaming system of  claim 3  wherein the community game server is configured to distribute the community prize to a plurality of gaming devices that are eligible to receive the community prize. 
   
   
       5 . The gaming system of  claim 4  wherein the community game server distributes the community prize to eligible gaming devices dependent on the probability with which the respective eligible gaming device qualified for the community game. 
   
   
       6 . A community game server that compares a gaming outcome of a gaming device to determine whether the gaming device qualifies for a community game, wherein:
 (A) for a first set of gaming devices to qualify for the community game, the community game server compares the gaming device outcome to a first qualifying game outcome;   (B) for a second set of gaming devices to qualify for the community game, the community game server compares the gaming device outcome to a second qualifying game outcome.   
   
   
       7 . The community game server of  claim 6  wherein the first qualifying game outcome has a lower probability than the second qualifying game outcome. 
   
   
       8 . The community game server of  claim 6  wherein the first qualifying game outcome has a higher probability than the second qualifying game outcome. 
   
   
       9 . The community game server of  claim 6  wherein at least one of the first qualifying game outcomes and the second qualifying game outcome comprises a cumulative game outcome. 
   
   
       10 . The community game server of  claim 9  wherein the cumulative game outcome comprises a predetermined number of symbols within a predetermined period of time. 
   
   
       11 . The community game server of  claim 10  wherein the first qualifying game outcome comprises a first predetermined number of at least one predetermined symbol within a predetermined period of time and wherein the second qualifying game outcome comprises a second predetermined number of at least one predetermined symbol within the predetermined period of time. 
   
   
       12 . The community game server of  claim 10  wherein the first qualifying game outcome comprises a predetermined number of at least one predetermined symbol within a first predetermined period of time and wherein the second qualifying game outcome comprises the predetermined number of the at least one predetermined symbol within a second predetermined period of time. 
   
   
       13 . The community game server of  claim 6  wherein for a third set of gaming devices to qualify for the community game, the community game server compares the gaming device outcome to a third qualifying game outcome. 
   
   
       14 . The community game server of  claim 6  wherein at least one of the first set and second set comprises a single gaming device. 
   
   
       15 . The community game server of  claim 6  wherein at least one of the first set and second set comprises a plurality of gaming devices. 
   
   
       16 . The community game server of  claim 6  wherein the game outcome is a game outcome of a primary game of the respective gaming device. 
   
   
       17 . A method for qualifying a plurality of players into a community game, the method comprising:
 (A) qualifying at least a first player into a community game;   (B) modifying a probability of qualifying into the community game; and   (C) qualifying at least a second player into the community game.   
   
   
       18 . The method of  claim 17  wherein qualifying at least a first player into a community game comprises creating a first qualifying game outcome having a first probability and wherein qualifying a second player into the community game comprises creating a second qualifying game outcome having a second probability. 
   
   
       19 . The method of  claim 18  comprising creating the first qualifying game outcome on a first gaming device and creating the second qualifying game outcome on a second gaming device. 
   
   
       20 . The method of  claim 17  wherein modifying the probability of qualifying comprises modifying a qualifying game outcome. 
   
   
       21 . The method of  claim 20  wherein modifying a qualifying game outcome comprises modifying a qualifying number of gaming symbols of a gaming device in a qualifying period. 
   
   
       22 . The method of  claim 20  wherein modifying a qualifying game outcome comprises modifying a qualifying period in which to obtain a qualifying number of gaming symbols at a gaming device. 
   
   
       23 . A method for gaming comprising:
 (A) qualifying a first set of gaming devices into a community game using a first qualifying probability;   (B) qualifying a second set of gaming devices into the community game using a second qualifying probability;   (C) determining a community game outcome; and   (D) awarding a community prize to at least one of the qualified gaming devices.   
   
   
       24 . The method of  claim 23  wherein the second set of gaming devices are qualified into the community game after the first set of gaming devices are qualified into the community game. 
   
   
       25 . The method of  claim 23  wherein awarding the community prize comprises distributing the community prize to the first set of gaming devices and the second set of gaming devices dependent on the first qualifying probability and the second qualifying probability. 
   
   
       26 . The method of  claim 25  wherein gaming devices that qualified for the community game with a higher probability receive a lower proportion of the community prize.