Video gaming system with fixed pool of winning plays and global pool access

A gaming system network comprising:

• master means for distributing game plays from a fixed pool of game plays;
• means for storing at least one fixed pool of game plays, coupled to the master means, each fixed pool having a predetermined number of winning and losing game play records wherein each game play record contains an indication of whether the particular play constitutes a winning or losing play and the amount won;
• interface means, coupled to the master means, for communicating game play records from the means for storing in response to game play requests;
• a plurality of slave means, coupled to the interface means, for receiving game play records from the master means in response to game play requests received from a player;
• player-controlled selection means, coupled to a slave means, for transmitting game play requests from the player to the master means;
• and
• output means, coupled to a slave means, for communicating to the player the receipt of a winning or losing play and the amount won.

A gaming system network comprising:

• a master processing unit, the master processing unit operative to distribute game play records from a finite pool of game play records;
• a memory device coupled to the master processing unit, the memory device operative to store at least one finite pool of game play records, each finite pool of game play records containing a predefined number of winning and losing play records wherein each game play record contains an indication of whether the particular game play constitutes a winning or losing play and the amount won;
• a communication interface for coupling the slave terminals on line to the master processing unit;
• a plurality of slave terminals, each slave terminal coupled to the communication interface to receive game play records from the memory device in response to a game play request received from a player;
• a plurality of player-controlled selection devices, each player-controlled selection device coupled to a slave terminal and operative to transmit game play requests from the player to the master processing unit;
• and
• a plurality of output devices, each output device coupled to a slave terminal and operative to communicate to the player the receipt of a winning or losing play and the amount won.

A gaming system network comprising:

• a central game processor for generating a plurality of finite pools of game plays, each finite pool having a predetermined number of winning and losing game play records, each game play record comprising an indication of whether the particular play constitutes a winning play and the amount won;
• a plurality of master processing units, each master processing unit coupled to the central game processor through a first communication interface and operative to receive the game play records from the central game processor;
• a memory device coupled to each master processing unit, the memory device operative to store at least one finite pool of game play records, each finite pool of game play records containing a predefined number of winning and losing game play records wherein each game play record contains an indication of whether the particular play constitutes a winning play and the amount won;
• a second communication interface coupled to each master processing unit;
• a plurality of slave terminals, each slave terminal coupled to the second communication interface to receive game play records from the master processing unit in response to a game play request received from a player;
• a plurality of player-controlled selection devices, each player-controlled selection device coupled to a slave terminal and operative to transmit game play requests from the player to the master processing unit;
• and
• a plurality of output devices, each output device coupled to a slave terminal and operative to communicate to the player the receipt of a winning play and the amount won.