BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

The invention relates generally to electronic gaming equipment, and more particularly, to an electronic gaming machines, games and special or bonus game features that may be offered to facilitate and encourage game play thereon.

Gaming machines, have become a major source of entertainment in many parts of the world. Traditionally such machines were mechanical devices where a number of reels marked with a plurality of numbers or symbols could be made to spin randomly by the application of some mechanical input. If, upon coming to a rest, the subsequent patterns of numbers or symbols displayed along a “payline” of symbol locations on the reels corresponded to predetermined patterns, then the machine would provide a prize or payout.

At one time a slot machine payline included only straight line arrangements of symbol locations across each cell in the array formed by the reels. The advent of electronics, computers and electronic graphical displays, has enabled a continual increase in the complexity and variations of gaming machines, games and displays, while maintaining the basic concept of the traditional machine. In short, the games no longer include mechanical reels but simulate rotatable reels to ultimately display a array of locations in which a symbol is displayed. These games also typically include multiple paylines many of which are not straight lines, and each cell may comprise a reel, such that every symbol in each cell is randomly selected. However, the paylines remain predefined to include specific arrangements of symbol locations in the reel array.

Bonus games that may be played in conjunction with the underlying slot game are often used to enhance the entertainment value of the game. The bonus game may comprise any type of game, either similar to or completely different from the primary game. The bonus game is typically initiated upon the occurrence of a selected event or outcome of the underlying game, but may also require an additional wager.

To keep games appealing to players there is a continuing need to develop new and interesting features and bonus games for electronic gaming. New features and bonus games appeal to player interest and enhance excitement in order to entice longer play and satisfy demands of operators for interesting games and increased profitability.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present disclosure is directed to gaming systems and methods for providing a game in which a game outcome is reached that includes an active area and an inactive area, with any awards being determined by the position of randomly generated symbols in the active area, the active area increasing in size to include additional positions of randomly generated symbols from the inactive area responsive to an occurrence of a triggering event, wherein the triggering event is based on the satisfaction of a preset criteria associated with the active area of the game outcome, may result in enhanced awards and may be triggered one or more instances thereafter by the satisfaction of the preset criteria associated with the increased active area, each instance of being triggered resulting in the active area increasing in size until a maximum active area is achieved.

Some embodiments of the invention are directed to a gaming system, comprising: a housing; at least one display device supported by the housing; a plurality of input devices supported by the housing; at least one processor; and at least one memory device that stores a plurality of instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the at least one processor to operate with the at least one display device and the plurality of input devices to: (a) establish a credit balance based at least in part on a monetary value associated with a physical item after an input device receives the physical item, the physical item being a ticket associated with the monetary value or currency; (b) place a wager to initiate play of a wagering game in response to receipt of an actuation of a wager button, the credit balance being decreasable by the wager; (c) randomly display an outcome of an instance of play of the wagering game, wherein the displayed game outcome includes one or more symbols of a plurality of symbols in an active symbol display area, the one or more symbols in the active symbol display area being determinative of an award outcome, and one or more symbols of the plurality of symbols in an inactive symbol display area, the one or more symbols in the inactive symbol display area being unused in the determination of the award outcome, the inactive symbol display area being distinguishable from the active symbol display area in the displayed game outcome by at least one identifying characteristic; (d) determine an award outcome based on the plurality of symbols in the active symbol display area, the credit balance being increasable by any determined award outcome; (e) responsive to the detection of an occurrence of a triggering event in the displayed game outcome, wherein the triggering event comprises at least a preset amount of one or more predefined symbols being displayed in a preset configuration in the active symbol display area: (1) modify the displayed game outcome by discontinuing display of the at least one identifying characteristic in at least a portion of the inactive symbol display area; (2) determine an enhanced award outcome associated with the one or more symbols in the active symbol display area of the modified game outcome, the active symbol display area of the modified game outcome including the at least a portion of the inactive symbol display area in which the display of the at least one identifying characteristic is discontinued; and (3) responsive to the detection of an occurrence of a triggering event in the modified game outcome, repeat (1) and (2), whereby the display of the at least one identifying characteristic is discontinued in one or more additional portions of the inactive symbol display area; (f) responsive to at least one of (i) the absence of the detection of an occurrence of a triggering event in the modified game outcome and (ii) the discontinuing of the display of the at least one identifying characteristic in all portions of the inactive symbol display area of the modified game outcome, increase the credit balance being by the determined enhanced award outcome; and (g) initiate a payout of the credit balance in response to receipt of a payout request.

In some embodiments of the aforementioned gaming system the triggering event comprises two or more of the predefined symbols in a preset configuration in the active symbol display area.

In some embodiments of the aforementioned gaming system the triggering event comprises two or more of the predefined symbols adjacently positioned in the active symbol display area.

In some embodiments of the aforementioned gaming system the one or more predefined symbols comprise one or more of the same symbol, and the at least a preset amount of one or more predefined symbols displayed in a preset configuration in the active symbol display area may comprise at least three of the same symbol.

In some embodiments of the aforementioned gaming system the at least one identifying characteristic comprises obscuring at least a portion of the one or more symbols in the inactive symbol display area.

In some embodiments of the aforementioned gaming system, at least one of the preset amount of one or more predefined symbols, the predefined symbols and the preset configuration is selected randomly.

In some embodiments the aforementioned gaming system further comprises displaying the at least one identifying characteristic in all portions of the inactive symbol display area responsive to initiating play of a subsequent instance of the wagering game.

In some embodiments the aforementioned gaming system further comprises continuing to display the inactive symbol display area without the at least one characteristic in one or more subsequent instances of the wagering game responsive to the discontinuing of the display of the at least one identifying characteristic in all portions of the inactive symbol display area of the modified game outcome.

In some embodiments of the aforementioned gaming system the displayed game outcome includes a depiction of virtual reels forming an array of multiple rows and multiple columns defining a plurality of cells therein. The active symbol display area may include a first plurality of cells in the array and the inactive symbol display area may include a second plurality of cells in the array. The triggering event may comprise at least three of the one or more predefined symbols in adjacently positioned cells of the active symbol display area, and the one or more predefined symbols may comprise any of the same symbols. In some embodiments of the aforementioned gaming system, the one or more predefined symbols are removed from the displayed game outcome and replaced by one or more symbols of the plurality of symbols.

In some embodiments, the gaming system further comprises replacing the one or more predefined symbols with one or more symbols of the plurality of symbols in the modified game outcome responsive to an occurrence of the triggering event.

Some embodiments of the invention are directed to a gaming system, comprising: a housing; at least one display device supported by the housing; one or more input devices; at least one processor; and at least one memory device that stores a plurality of instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the at least one processor to operate with the at least one display device and the one or more input devices to: (a) establish a credit balance associated with a monetary amount through the one or more input devices; (b) receive a wager to initiate play of a wagering game in response to actuation of a wager through the one or more input devices, the credit balance being decreasable by the wager; (c) randomly display an outcome of an instance of play of the wagering game, wherein the displayed game outcome includes symbols from a plurality of symbols in an active symbol display area and symbols from the plurality of symbols in an inactive symbol display area, an award outcome being determined by the plurality of symbols in the active symbol display area, the inactive symbol display area being distinguishable from the active symbol display area in the displayed game outcome by at least one identifying characteristic; (d) determine the award outcome based on the plurality of symbols in the active symbol display area, the credit balance being increasable by the determined award outcome; (e) responsive to an occurrence of a triggering event in the displayed game outcome, wherein the triggering event comprises at least three of a same symbol being displayed in the active symbol display area: (1) modify the displayed game outcome by discontinuing display of (i) the at least three of a same symbol displayed in the active symbol area and (ii) the one identifying characteristic in at least a portion of the inactive symbol display area; (2) display a modified game outcome wherein (i) the at least three of the same symbol are replaced by at least three other symbols and (ii) the active symbol display area includes the at least a portion of the inactive symbol display area in which the display of the at least one identifying characteristic is discontinued; and (3) responsive to an occurrence of the triggering event in the modified game outcome, repeat (1) and (2), whereby additional portions of the inactive symbol display area are included in the active symbol display area of the modified game outcome; and (f) responsive to at least one of (i) the absence of an occurrence of the triggering event and (ii) the discontinuing of the display of the at least one identifying characteristic in at least a preset amount of the inactive symbol display area of the modified game outcome, determine an enhanced award outcome associated with the symbols in the active symbol display area of the modified game outcome, the credit balance being increasable by the enhanced award outcome amount.

In some embodiments of the aforementioned gaming system the at least one identifying characteristic comprises obscuring at least a portion of the symbols in the inactive symbol display area.

In some embodiments of the aforementioned gaming system the award outcome is determined responsive to at least one of (i) the absence of an occurrence of the triggering event and (ii) the discontinuing of the display of the at least one identifying characteristic in the entirety of the inactive symbol display area.

In some embodiments of the aforementioned gaming system the symbols are replaced by symbols in the active or inactive symbol display areas, which may be adjacent thereto, or randomly generated.

Some embodiments of the invention are directed to a gaming system, comprising: a housing; at least one display device supported by the housing; one or more input devices; at least one processor; and at least one memory device that stores a plurality of instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the at least one processor to communicate with the at least one display device and one or more input devices to: (a) establish a credit balance based at least in part on a monetary value; (b) receive a wager to initiate play of a wagering game in response to receipt of an actuation of a wager from the one or more input devices, the credit balance being decreasable by the wager; (c) randomly display an outcome of an instance of play of the wagering game, wherein the displayed game outcome includes (i) a depiction of adjacent virtual reel strips forming an array of rows and columns defining a plurality of cells, each cell of the plurality of cells having at least one symbol of a plurality of symbols displayed therein, (ii) an active symbol display area including a plurality of cells in the array, the active symbol display area being determinative of an award outcome and (iii) an inactive symbol display area including a plurality of cells in the array, wherein the inactive symbol display area is visibly distinguishable from the active symbol display area in the displayed game outcome by at least one identifying characteristic, the at least one identifying characteristic obscuring at least a portion of the plurality of symbols in the inactive symbol display area; (d) determine an award outcome based on the plurality of symbols in the active symbol display area of the displayed game outcome, the credit balance being increasable by the determined award outcome; (e) responsive to an occurrence of a triggering event in the displayed game outcome, wherein the triggering event comprises at least a preset amount of one or more predefined symbols displayed in a preset configuration in the active symbol display area: (1) modify the displayed game outcome by (i) discontinuing the display of the predefined symbols resulting in the occurrence of a triggering event, (ii) displaying symbols as moving from a starting position in the displayed game outcome into a cell from which the display of the predefined symbols is discontinued, the starting position being an adjacent position in the virtual reel strip with respect to a predefined symbol, and (iii) discontinuing the display of the at least one identifying characteristic from a portion of the inactive symbol display area; (2) display a modified game outcome wherein the active symbol display area includes the portion of the inactive symbol display area in which the display of the at least one identifying characteristic is discontinued; (3) determine an enhanced award outcome associated with the symbols in the active symbol display area of the modified game outcome; and (4) responsive to an occurrence of the triggering event in the modified game outcome, repeat (1), (2) and (3), whereby additional portions of the inactive symbol display area are included in the active symbol display area of the modified game outcome; and (f) responsive to one of (i) the absence of an occurrence of the triggering event and (ii) the display of the at least one identifying characteristic being discontinued for all of the plurality of cells in the inactive symbol display area of the modified game outcome, increase the credit balance by the total of the determined enhanced award outcome.

In some embodiments of the aforementioned gaming system each of the active symbol display area and inactive symbol display area include a plurality of rows in the array.

In some embodiments of the aforementioned gaming system the preset amount of one or more predefined symbols displayed in a preset configuration in the active symbol display area comprises at least three of any of a same symbol of the plurality of symbols in one of at least three adjacent horizontal cells in the active symbol display area and at least three adjacent vertical cells in the active symbol display area.

Some embodiments of the invention are directed to a method of providing an award enhancing feature in a wagering game, the wagering game being operable on a computing device including a display device, memory and a processor; wherein the memory stores a plurality of instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the at least one processor to operative communicate with the at least one display device to enable the method comprising the steps of: (a) establishing a credit balance associated with a player account; (b) receiving a wager to initiate play of a wagering game, the credit balance being decreasable by the wager; (c) randomly displaying an outcome of an instance of play of the wagering game, wherein the displayed game outcome includes one or more symbols of a plurality of symbols in an active symbol display area, the one or more symbols in the active symbol display area being determinative of an award outcome, and one or more symbols of the plurality of symbols in an inactive symbol display area, the one or more symbols in the inactive symbol display area being unused in the determination of the award outcome, the inactive symbol display area being distinguishable from the active symbol display area in the displayed game outcome by at least one identifying characteristic; (d) determining an award outcome based on the plurality of symbols in the active symbol display area, the credit balance being increasable by any determined award outcome; (e) responsive to the detection of an occurrence of a triggering event in the displayed game outcome, wherein the triggering event comprises at least a preset amount of one or more predefined symbols being displayed in a preset configuration in the active symbol display area: (1) modifying the displayed game outcome by discontinuing display of the at least one identifying characteristic in at least a portion of the inactive symbol display area; (2) determining an enhanced award outcome associated with the one or more symbols in the active symbol display area of the modified game outcome, the active symbol display area of the modified game outcome including the at least a portion of the inactive symbol display area in which the display of the at least one identifying characteristic is discontinued; and (3) responsive to the detection of an occurrence of a triggering event in the modified game outcome, repeating (1) and (2), whereby the display of the at least one identifying characteristic is discontinued in one or more additional portions of the inactive symbol display area; (f) responsive to at least one of (i) the absence of the detection of an occurrence of a triggering event in the modified game outcome and (ii) the discontinuing of the display of the at least one identifying characteristic in all portions of the inactive symbol display area of the modified game outcome, increasing the credit balance being by the determined enhanced award outcome; and (g) initiating a payout of the credit balance in response to receipt of a payout request.

