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

1. A gaming machine for providing a game to a player, comprising:

a display device;

a gaming controller coupled to the display device for executing the game, the gaming controller including a processor programmed to:

display a primary game on the display device, the primary game including a plurality of reels being displayed in a grid, each of the reels including a plurality of symbols including a trigger symbol;

randomly generate an outcome of the primary game and spin and stop the reels to display the outcome of the primary game;

provide an award to the player as a function of the outcome of the primary game;

detect a first triggering condition appearing in the outcome of the primary game including a plurality of trigger symbols being displayed in the grid with the reels stopped and responsively award a bonus award game upon detecting the first triggering condition;

detect a second triggering condition appearing in the outcome of the primary game including the plurality of trigger symbols being displayed in a predefined arrangement and responsively award a free game feature upon detecting the second triggering condition; and

initiate the bonus award game by:

initiating a spin selection for each trigger symbol, each of the spin selections including randomly selecting a number of instances of the bonus award game associated with each corresponding trigger symbol;

replacing each trigger symbol with a bonus symbol indicating the corresponding selected number of instances; and

displaying the bonus award game on the display device including a plurality of award images indicating a plurality of bonus awards and an award selector image adapted to rotate on the display screen to indicate a selection of an award image.

2. The gaming machine in accordance with claim 1 , the gaming controller configured to display the free game feature on the display device after displaying the bonus award game on the display device.

3. The gaming machine in accordance with claim 1 , the second triggering condition being defined as the plurality of trigger symbols being displayed along a payline.

4. The gaming machine in accordance with claim 1 , the gaming controller configured to determine a number of trigger symbols being displayed with the outcome of the primary game and determine a number of free reel spins included in the free game feature as a function of the determined number of trigger symbols.

5. The gaming machine in accordance with claim 1 , the gaming controller configured to:

determine a probability of initiating the bonus award feature as a function of the number of trigger symbols being displayed in the grid; and

determine whether to initiate the bonus award game as a function of the determined probability.

6. The gaming machine in accordance with claim 1 , the gaming controller configured to:

randomly select at least one of the displayed trigger symbols; and

randomly select a credit prize and replace the selected trigger symbol with an image of the selected credit prize.

7. The gaming machine in accordance with claim 1 , the gaming controller configure to:

determine a total number of instances of the bonus award game, and, for each instance of the bonus award game, randomly select a bonus award from a predefined set of bonus awards, each of the bonus awards having an associated award value.

8. The gaming machine in accordance with claim 7 , the gaming controller configure to determine a total bonus award as a function of a value of each randomly selected bonus award and provide the total bonus award to the player.

9. The gaming machine in accordance with claim 1 , the gaming controller configured to: for each instance of the bonus award game, spin and stop the award selector to indicate the corresponding selected bonus award.

10. A computer-implemented method of operating a gaming machine to display a game to a player, the gaming machine including a display device and a gaming controller including a processor, the method including the processor performing the steps of:

displaying a primary game on the display device including a plurality of reels being displayed in a grid, each of the reels including a plurality of symbols including a trigger symbol;

randomly generating an outcome of the primary game and spinning and stopping the reels to display the outcome of the primary game;

providing an award to the player as a function of the outcome of the primary game;

detecting a first triggering condition appearing in the outcome of the primary game including a plurality of trigger symbols being displayed in the grid with the reels stopped and responsively awarding a bonus award game upon detecting the first triggering condition;

detecting a second triggering condition appearing in the outcome of the primary game including the plurality of trigger symbols being displayed in a predefined arrangement and responsively awarding a free game feature upon detecting the second triggering condition; and

initiating the bonus award game by:

initiating a spin selection for each trigger symbol, each of the spin selections including randomly selecting a number of instances of the bonus award game associated with each corresponding trigger symbol;

replacing each trigger symbol with a bonus symbol indicating the corresponding selected number of instances; and

displaying the bonus award game on the display device including a plurality of award images indicating a plurality of bonus awards and an award selector image adapted to rotate on the display screen to indicate a selection of an award image.

11. The method in accordance with claim 10 , including the step of displaying the free game feature on the display device after displaying the bonus award feature on the display device.

12. The method in accordance with claim 10 , the second triggering condition being defined as the plurality of trigger symbols being displayed along a payline.

13. The method in accordance with claim 10 , including the steps of determining a number of trigger symbols being displayed with the outcome of the primary game and determining a number of free reel spins included in the free game feature as a function of the determined number of trigger symbols.

14. The method in accordance with claim 10 , including the steps of:

determining a probability of initiating the bonus award feature as a function of the number of trigger symbols being displayed in the grid; and

determining whether to initiate the bonus award game as a function of the determined probability.

15. The method in accordance with claim 10 , including the steps of:

randomly selecting at least one of the displayed trigger symbols; and

randomly selecting a credit prize and replace the selected trigger symbol with an image of the selected credit prize.

16. The method in accordance with claim 10 , including the steps of:

determining a total number of instances of the bonus award game, and, for each instance of the bonus award game, randomly selecting a bonus award from a predefined set of bonus awards, each of the bonus awards having an associated award value.

17. The method in accordance with claim 16 , including the step of determining a total bonus award as a function of a value of each randomly selected bonus award and provide the total bonus award to the player.

18. The method in accordance with claim 10 , including the steps of:

for each instance of the bonus award game, spinning and stopping the award selector to indicate the corresponding selected bonus award.

19. One or more non-transitory computer-readable storage media, having computer-executable instructions embodied thereon, wherein when executed by at least one processor, the computer-executable instructions cause the processor to:

display a primary game on a display device, the primary game including a plurality of reels and a plurality of symbols being displayed with the plurality of reels, plurality of symbols including a trigger symbol;

randomly generate an outcome of the primary game and spinning and stopping the reels to display the outcome of the primary game;

provide an award to the player as a function of the outcome of the primary game;

detect a first triggering condition appearing in the outcome of the primary game including a plurality of trigger symbols being displayed in the grid with the reels stopped and responsively award a bonus award game upon detecting the first triggering condition;

detect a second triggering condition appearing in the outcome of the primary game including the plurality of trigger symbols being displayed in a predefined arrangement and responsively award a free game feature upon detecting the second triggering condition; and

initiate the bonus award game by:

initiating a spin selection for each trigger symbol, each of the spin selections including randomly selecting a number of instances of the bonus award game associated with each corresponding trigger symbol;

replacing each trigger symbol with a bonus symbol indicating the corresponding selected number of instances; and

displaying the bonus award game on the display device including a plurality of award images indicating a plurality of bonus awards and an award selector image adapted to rotate on the display screen to indicate a selection of an award image.

20. The one or more non-transitory computer-readable storage media in accordance with claim 19 , wherein the second triggering condition being defined as the plurality of trigger symbols being displayed along a payline.