Reel-type games and gaming machines
Games such as reel-type slot games may have various features, including: an attribute accumulate feature which a player attempts to form combinations of collectable special symbols; a geometric pattern feature in which symbols within a geometric pattern or area may take on special attributes or features; a moving trigger feature; a symbol-triggered game transformation feature using logical rules; a player symbol selection in which reel symbols are player selected; and a reel-locking feature.
1. An electronic gaming machine configured to present a game to at least one player, the gaming machine comprising:
a controller including at least one random number generator;
at least one electronic display;
at least one player input device;
a wager accepting device; and
a non-transitory, computer readable medium comprising machine-readable code, which when executed by the controller, causes the gaming machine
to accept a wager from the player via the wager accepting device;
to display at least one slot reel symbol on two or more slot reels on the electronic display in response to the player input on the player input device, wherein each slot reel symbol displayed on each reel is (i) selected from a group of symbols comprising at least one special symbol and (ii) randomly selected based on an output from the random number generator;
to designate the at least one special when the special symbol is displayed by at least one of said two or more slot reels as a collected symbol;
to evaluate said collected symbol for each reel over one or more spins of said reels to determine if collected symbols from the two or more reels comprise a winning combination of collected symbols;
to award an award to said player for receiving a winning combination of collected symbols;
to allow said player to continue to collect special symbols in an attempt to receive a second winning combination of special symbols after a first winning combination of collected symbols is received if not all of a predetermined number of spins have been utilized.
2. The gaming machine in accordance with claim 1 further comprising a wager accepting device and including receiving a wager from said at least one player via said wager accepting device.
3. The gaming machine in accordance with claim 1 further comprising machine-readable code executable by said controller to display said collected symbols apart from said slot reels.
4. The gaming machine in accordance with claim 3 wherein said collected symbols are displayed in one or more locations corresponding to the slot reel which displayed the special symbol.
5. The gaming machine in accordance with claim 4 wherein said locations are at the top of each slot reel.
6. The gaming machine in accordance with claim 3 further comprising causing said collected symbols to no longer be displayed in the event a winning combination of collected symbols is received.
7. The gaming machine in accordance with claim 3 further comprising causing said collected symbols to no longer be displayed after a predetermined number of spins of said two or more reels.
8. The gaming machine in accordance with claim 1 wherein at least one special symbol is uniquely associated with each slot reel and cannot be displayed by any other slot reel.
9. The gaming machine in accordance with claim 1 wherein said at least one special symbol comprises a plurality of letters.
10. The gaming machine in accordance with claim 9 wherein at least one letter is capable of being displayed by each of said slot reels.
11. The gaming machine in accordance with claim 9 wherein at least one winning combination of collected symbols comprises a word spelled by said letters.
12. The gaming machine in accordance with claim 1 wherein said at least one winning combination of collected symbols comprises at least one special symbol collected relative to each slot reel.
13. The gaming machine in accordance with claim 1 wherein each slot reel is capable of displaying at least one slot symbol selected from a group of slot symbols, said group of slot symbols including at least one special symbol and a plurality of other symbols.
14. The gaming machine in accordance with claim 1 wherein said two or more slot reels are graphically represented.
15. The gaming machine in accordance with claim 1 , wherein when the special symbol is designated as one of the collected symbols, the special symbol is removed from the reel on which it was displayed.
16. The gaming machine in accordance with claim 1 , wherein when the special symbol is designated as one of the collected symbols, the special symbol is converted to a wild symbol.
17. An electronic gaming machine configured to present a game to at least one player, the gaming machine comprising:
a controller including at least one random number generator;
at least one electronic display;
at least one player input device;
a wager accepting device; and
a non-transitory, computer readable medium comprising machine-readable code, which when executed by the controller, causes the gaming machine
to accept a wager from the player via the wager accepting device;
to display at least one slot reel symbol on two or more slot reels on the electronic display in response to the player input on the player input device, wherein each slot reel symbol displayed on each reel is (i) selected from a group of symbols comprising at least one special symbol and (ii) randomly selected based on an output from the random number generator;
to designate the at least one special when the special symbol is displayed by at least one of said two or more slot reels as a collected symbol:
to evaluate said collected symbol for each reel over one or more spins of said reels to determine if collected symbols from the two or more reels comprise a winning combination of collected symbols;
to award an award to said player for receiving a winning combination of collected symbols:
wherein said at least one winning combination of collected symbols comprises at least two special symbols collected relative to a single of said slot reels.
18. An electronic gaming machine configured to present a game to at least one player, the gaming machine comprising:
a controller including at least one random number generator;
at least one electronic display;
at least one player input device;
a wager accepting device; and
a non-transitory, computer readable medium comprising machine-readable code, which when executed by the controller, causes the gaming machine
to accept a wager from the player via the wager accepting device;
to display at least one slot reel symbol on two or more slot reels on the electronic display in response to the player input on the player input device, wherein each slot reel symbol displayed on each reel is (i) selected from a group of symbols comprising at least one special symbol and (ii) randomly selected based on an output from the random number generator;
to designate the at least one special when the special symbol is displayed by at least one of said two or more slot reels as a collected symbol;
to display said collected symbols apart from said slot reels
to evaluate said collected symbol for each reel over one or more spins of said reels
to determine if collected symbols from the two or more reels comprise a winning combination of collected symbols;
to award an award to said player for receiving a winning combination of collected symbols;
wherein said collected special symbols are ranked and lower ranked collected symbols are replaced with higher ranked collected symbols.