Gaming machine and methods of providing games to players with a special symbol triggering multiple feature games

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11244536-B2
Application number	US-202016800582-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Feb 25, 2020
Priority date	Sep 28, 2015
Publication date	Feb 8, 2022
Grant date	Feb 8, 2022

Abstract

A gaming machine for providing a game to a player is described herein. The gaming machine displays a primary game including a plurality of reels and spins and stops the reels to display the outcome of the primary game. The gaming machine detects a first triggering condition appearing in the outcome of the primary game and responsively initiates a bonus award game upon detecting the first triggering condition, and detects a second triggering condition appearing in the outcome of the primary game and responsively initiates a free game feature upon detecting the second triggering condition.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A gaming machine for providing a game to a player, comprising:
a cabinet;
a display device mounted to the cabinet; and
a controller including processor programed to execute an algorithm including the steps of:
displaying a plurality of reels on the display device and spinning and stopping the reels to display an outcome of a primary game;
detecting a plurality of trigger symbols appearing in the outcome of the primary game;
for at least one trigger symbol, randomly selecting a number of instances of a bonus feature; and
replacing the at least one trigger symbol with a bonus symbol indicating the randomly selecting a number of instances of the bonus feature.

2. The gaming machine of claim 1 , wherein the processor is programmed to execute the algorithm including the steps of:
randomly selecting another trigger symbol appearing in the outcome of the primary game and randomly selecting a credit prize associated with the another trigger symbol; and
replacing the another trigger symbol with the randomly selected credit prize.

3. The gaming machine of claim 1 , wherein the processor is programmed to execute the algorithm including the steps of:
initiating the bonus feature including a number of free spins of the reels equal to a sum of the number of instances of the bonus feature indicated by the bonus symbols.

4. The gaming machine of claim 1 , wherein the processor is programmed to execute the algorithm including the steps of:
initiating the bonus feature by displaying a bonus award game on the display device including a plurality of bonus awards and a rotating award selector; and
initiating a number of instances of the bonus award game equal to a sum of the number of instances of the bonus feature indicated by the bonus symbols, each instance of the bonus award game including a spin of the rotating award selector to randomly select one of the bonus awards.

5. The gaming machine of claim 1 , wherein the processor is programmed to execute the algorithm including the steps of:
randomly determining whether to initiate the bonus feature based on a number of trigger symbols appearing in the outcome of the primary game.

6. The gaming machine of claim 1 , wherein the processor is programmed to execute the algorithm including the steps of:
initiating the bonus feature upon detecting a predefined number of trigger symbols appearing in the outcome of the primary game.

7. The gaming machine of claim 6 , wherein the processor is programmed to execute the algorithm including the steps of:
initiating the bonus feature upon detecting the predefined number of trigger symbols appearing in a predefined arrangement.

8. A method of operating a gaming machine including a display device mounted to a cabinet and a controller including a processor operably coupled to the display, the method including the processor performing the algorithm steps of:
displaying a plurality of reels on the display device and spinning and stopping the reels to display an outcome of a primary game;
detecting a plurality of trigger symbols appearing in the outcome of the primary game;
for at least one trigger symbol, randomly selecting a number of instances of a bonus feature; and
replacing the at least one trigger symbol with a bonus symbol indicating the randomly selecting a number of instances of the bonus feature.

9. The method of claim 8 , including the processor performing the algorithm steps of:
randomly selecting another trigger symbol appearing in the outcome of the primary game and randomly selecting a credit prize associated with the another trigger symbol; and
replacing the another trigger symbol with the randomly selected credit prize.

10. The method of claim 8 , including the processor performing the algorithm steps of:
initiating the bonus feature including a number of free spins of the reels equal to a sum of the number of instances of the bonus feature indicated by the bonus symbols.

11. The method of claim 8 , including the processor performing the algorithm steps of:
initiating the bonus feature by displaying a bonus award game on the display device including a plurality of bonus awards and a rotating award selector; and
initiating a number of instances of the bonus award game equal to a sum of the number of instances of the bonus feature indicated by the bonus symbols, each instance of the bonus award game including a spin of the rotating award selector to randomly select one of the bonus awards.

12. The method of claim 8 , including the processor performing the algorithm steps of:
randomly determining whether to initiate the bonus feature based on a number of trigger symbols appearing in the outcome of the primary game.

13. The method of claim 8 , including the processor performing the algorithm steps of:
initiating the bonus feature upon detecting a predefined number of trigger symbols appearing in the outcome of the primary game.

14. The method of claim 13 , including the processor performing the algorithm steps of:
initiating the bonus feature upon detecting the predefined number of trigger symbols appearing in a predefined arrangement.

15. A non-transitory computer-readable storage media having computer-executable instructions embodied thereon, when executed by at least one processor the computer-executable instructions cause the at least one processor to perform an algorithm including the steps of:
displaying a plurality of reels on the display device and spinning and stopping the reels to display an outcome of a primary game;
detecting a plurality of trigger symbols appearing in the outcome of the primary game;
for at least one trigger symbol, randomly selecting a number of instances of a bonus feature; and
replacing the at least one trigger symbol with a bonus symbol indicating the randomly selecting a number of instances of the bonus feature.

16. The non-transitory computer-readable storage media of claim 15 , wherein the computer-executable instructions cause the at least one processor to perform the algorithm including the steps of:
randomly selecting another trigger symbol appearing in the outcome of the primary game and randomly selecting a credit prize associated with the another trigger symbol; and
replacing the another trigger symbol with the randomly selected credit prize.

17. The non-transitory computer-readable storage media of claim 15 , wherein the computer-executable instructions cause the at least one processor to perform the algorithm including the steps of:
initiating the bonus feature including a number of free spins of the reels equal to a sum of the number of instances of the bonus feature indicated by the bonus symbols.

18. The non-transitory computer-readable storage media of claim 15 , wherein the computer-executable instructions cause the at least one processor to perform the algorithm including the steps of:
initiating the bonus feature by displaying a bonus award game on the display device including a plurality of bonus awards and a rotating award selector; and
initiating a number of instances of the bonus award game equal to a sum of the number of instances of the bonus feature indicated by the bonus symbols, each instance of the bonus award game including a spin of the rotating award selector to randomly select one of the bonus awards.

19. The non-transitory computer-readable storage media of claim 15 , wherein the computer-executable instructions cause the at least one processor to perform the algorithm including the steps of:
randomly determining

Assignees

• Konami Gaming Inc

Inventors

• Nakamura Daisuke

Classifications

• G07F17/3244

  Payment aspects of a gaming system, e.g. payment schemes, setting payout ratio, bonus or consolation prizes · CPC title

• G07F17/3225

  Data transfer within a gaming system, e.g. data sent between gaming machines and users · CPC title

• G07F17/326 Primary

  Game play aspects of gaming systems · CPC title

• G07F17/34

  depending on the stopping of moving members {in a mechanical slot machine}, e.g. "fruit" machines · CPC title

• G07F17/3267

  Game outcomes which determine the course of the subsequent game, e.g. double or quits, free games, higher payouts, different new games · CPC title