A gaming system comprises a plurality of gaming machines operably interconnected. Each of the plurality of gaming machines is assigned a unique machine identification code. Each of the plurality of gaming machines includes a stage effect controller configured to perform a predetermined stage effect, a common timer for providing timing information related to the performance of the predetermined stage effect to each of the plurality of gaming machines, and a control unit operably coupled to the stage effect controller and being configured to perform the predetermined stage effect based on the timing information and the machine identification code.