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 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 game upon detecting the triggering condition; and

initiate the bonus game by:

for each trigger symbol, randomly selecting a number of instances of the bonus game;

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

providing a number of instances of the bonus game instances on the display device equal to a sum of the selected number for all trigger symbols; and

providing an award to the player as a function of the outcome of the bonus game instances.

2. The gaming machine in accordance with claim 1 , the gaming controller configured to detect a second triggering condition appearing in the outcome of the primary game, the second trigger controller including the plurality of trigger symbols being displayed in a predefined arrangement and provide a 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 2 , 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 2 , 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 configured 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 configured 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 an 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 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 game upon detecting the triggering condition;

initiating the bonus award game by:

for each trigger symbol, randomly selecting a number of instances of the bonus award game;

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

providing a number of instances of the bonus game instances on the display device equal to a sum of the selected number for all trigger symbols; and

providing an award to the player as a function of the outcome of the bonus game instances.

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

detecting a second triggering condition appearing in the outcome of the primary game, the second trigger controller 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

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 11 , the second triggering condition being defined as the plurality of trigger symbols being displayed along a payline.

13. The method in accordance with claim 11 , 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 an 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 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 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 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 game upon detecting the triggering condition;

initiate the bonus award game by:

for each trigger symbol, randomly selecting a number of instances of the bonus award game;

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

providing a number of instances of the bonus game instances on the display device equal to a sum of the selected number for all trigger symbols; and

providing an award to the player as a function of the outcome of the bonus game instances.

20. The one or more non-transitory computer-readable storage media in accordance with claim 19 , wherein the processor furthers performs the steps of:

detecting a second triggering condition appearing in the outcome of the primary game, the second trigger controller 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

displaying the free game feature on the display device after displaying the bonus award feature on the display device.