A gaming system (50) has a controller (52) in communication with a plurality of gaming machines (10) that are operable by a player to play at least one base game (16). Each of the plurality of gaming machines (10) can participate in a secondary game that is common to the plurality of gaming machines (1) and which has an outcome resulting in the allocation of an award to a player of at least one of the gaming machine (10). A plurality of common events having a randomly determined component that dictates whether the outcome is achieved in the secondary game are displayed to players of the plurality of gaming machines (10). The outcome is capable of being achieved for any one gaming machine (10) without any other gaming machine (10) also achieving the outcome.