Method of gaming, a gaming system and a game controller
View Patent ↗A method of gaming comprising: conducting an initial play round comprising: selecting and displaying a first set of normal symbols at a plurality of display positions; displaying at least one special symbol at a display position; determining a game outcome based on each at least one special symbol and the first set of normal symbols, and conducting one or more further play rounds until an end condition is met, each further play round comprising: retaining the at least one special symbol from the previous play round; selecting a new display position at random for each retained special symbol; selecting and displaying a further set of normal symbols at a plurality of display positions; and determining a further game outcome based on the new display position of each special symbol and the further set of normal symbols.
1. A gaming system comprising:
a credit input mechanism configured for player interaction to receive a physical item representing a monetary value for receiving a credit input and establishing a credit balance, the credit balance being increasable and decreasable based at least on wagering activity;
a manually operable player interface configured to place a wager in accord with said credit balance having been provided by the credit input mechanism;
a game display;
a game controller having a random number generator, and configured to conduct an initial play round in accord with the placed wager, including being configured to:
1) select via the random number generator in the initial play round a first set of symbols from a plurality of available symbols that includes at least one special symbol,
2) cause the display of the selected first set of symbols at a respective plurality of display positions on the game display, and
3) determine a first game outcome based on the selected first set of symbols and any special symbols that are selected and displayed; and
4) award at least one prize based on said first game outcome; and
wherein said game controller is further configured to conduct at least one further play round until an end condition is met, including being configured to:
1) determine if a special symbol was displayed in the previous play round, and if so retain the special symbol for the further play round;
2) select at random a new display position for each retained special symbol based upon a set of predetermined displacement rules;
3) select via the random number generator a further set of symbols from a plurality of available display symbols;
4) display the selected further set of symbols at a respective plurality of display positions, including being configured to determine if two or more of the special symbols have been randomly assigned to the same display position for the current play, to combine the two or more special symbols for the current play round when the same display position is randomly selected for at least two special symbols, to separate any combined special symbols from the previous round into the constituent two or more special symbols, and to randomly via the random number generator move the constituent two or more special symbols based on a set of predetermined displacement rules;
5) determine a further game outcome based on the retained special symbol from the previous play round, the selected symbols from the further set of symbols, and any additional special symbol from the further set of symbols;
6) award prizes based on said further game outcome, including awarding an enhanced prize when two or more special symbols have been assigned to the same display position; and
a payout mechanism configured to payout value in accordance with the credit balance.
2. A gaming system as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the game controller is configured to select a new position for a special symbol by selecting at random a displacement from a set of possible displacements relative to the previous display position of the special symbol based upon said first set of predetermined displacement rules.
3. A gaming system as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the set of possible displacements are comprised of first displacement of two display positions in one of the directions left, right, up or down and a second displacement of one display position in a direction transverse to the first displacement.
4. A gaming system as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the display positions define a rectangular display area and the left side is treated as contiguous with the right side and the bottom is treated as contiguous with the top such that all displacements result in the moved symbol moving to a display position within the display area.
5. A gaming system as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the end condition is that a predetermined number of play rounds have occurred.
6. A gaming system as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the symbols belong to a plurality of reels in a spinning reel game.
7. A game system as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the controller is adapted to increase a prize award by a predetermined amount in response to determining that two or more of the special symbols have been randomly displayed in a same display position during the at least one or more further play round.