Bally Gaming, Inc.

Bally Gaming International, Inc.

Terence Gerard Daly

David B Schultz

Kimberly Cohn

John Francis LaSalvia

Nathanial A Hammond

William E Rommerdahl

John E Garofalo, Jr

Jack A Martin

Marvin Arthur Hein, Jr

Systems, gaming machines, and methods for displaying an exploding icon are disclosed. One method includes receiving player input to activate a primary game; activating the primary game; presenting the activated game on a single screen of a video display, the activated game comprising a primary game displaying one or more game icons in various locations on a main screen of the video display and upon the occurrence of a triggering event, the primary game appears to animate at least one of the displayed game icons and move one or more wild icons about the main screen of the video display over one or more of the game icons, and randomly replacing one or more of the game icons with the one or more wild icons; determining whether the resulting combination of game icons and wild icons form any winning combinations; and awarding a single game payout for the primary game.

System and method for displaying an exploding icon

Systems, gaming machines, games, and methods for displaying an exploding icon are disclosed herein. In one embodiment, a gaming device comprises a display screen that presents a game. The game presented on the display screen comprises one or more game icons for display in various locations on the display screen, wherein the game presents an animated icon upon the occurrence of a triggering event such that the animated icon produces one or more wild icons that move about the display screen before being positioned in fixed locations on the display screen. Additionally, the gaming device includes a means for activating the game and triggering the presentation of the animated icon, and a means for determining whether one or more combinations of the game icons and the wild icons form any winning combinations.

A reel spinning gaming device comprises a plurality of selectable reels, where a subset of the selectable reels is the initial active reels. The actuating system is operatively associated with the selectable reels and generates an outcome symbol combination for the active reels. The prize controller determines whether a prize is to be awarded based upon the outcome symbol combination. In one embodiment, the prize controller also initiates a bonus game when a triggering event is present. The reselection system designates a new set of active reels the bonus game(s). The new set of active reels comprises one or more newly active reels and one or more remaining active reels, and the outcome symbols from the one or more newly active reels are used in conjunction with the outcome symbols from the remaining active reels to produce a outcome symbol combination for one or more bonus games.

Multi-reel slot machine with selectable reel play

A gaming method includes spinning the plurality of reelswithin a display windowof the gaming machine. A subset of the spinning reelsis then selected for use in determining the game outcome. The non-selected reels are removed from a player's view within the display window. The selected reels are then appealingly repositioned into a closer grouping within the display window. The gaming machine then determines if the selected and repositioned reels produce a winning game outcome. A prize is awarded if a winning game outcome is achieved.

Bonus game using a subset of reels

A reel spinning gaming deviceincludes a plurality of selectable reelseach having game symbolslocated thereon, a selection systemand an actuating systemEach reel displays an outcome symbolafter having been spun. The selection systemdesignates a subset of the selectable reels as the initial active reelsfor the initial game. The actuating systemthen spins the initial active reelsafter which a prize may be awarded dependent upon the combination of the outcome symbolsfrom the initial active reelsThe selection systemthen designates a new subset of the selectable reelsas the active reelsfor each subsequent consecutive game by substituting a non-active reel from the previous game with an active reel from the previous game. The actuating systemthen spins the newly substituted active reel.

A reel spinning gaming deviceincludes a plurality of selectable reelseach having game symbolslocated thereon, a selection system, an actuating system, and a prize controller. Each reel displays an outcome symbolafter having been spun. The number of selectable reelsincluded in the gaming deviceis larger than that utilized for an individual game. In this regard, the selection systemdesignates a subset of the selectable reels as the initial active reelsfor the initial game. The actuating systemthen spins the initial active reels, after which the prize controllerdetermines whether or not a prize is to be awarded dependent upon the combination of the outcome symbolsfrom the initial active reels. The selection system(or a reselection systemin some preferred embodiments) then designates of a new subset of the selectable reelsas the active reelsfor each subsequent consecutive game by substituting a non-active reel from the previous game with an active reel from the previous game. Specifically, the active reelsfor the subsequent consecutive game include the newly substituted active reel and the remaining active reels from the previous game. The actuating systemspins the newly substituted active reel, but does not spin the remaining active reels from the previous game. The prize controllerthen determines whether or not a prize is to be awarded dependent upon the combination of the outcome symbolfrom the newly substituted active reel and the outcome symbols of the remaining active reels from the previous game. This process is repeated until all of the games purchased by the player (or otherwise entitled to the player) have been exhausted.

Growing community of inventors

Las Vegas, NV, United States of America

Terence Gerard Daly