1. A method of operating a matching game for play by a plurality of players which is triggered while the plurality of players are performing a transaction, each player belonging to one of a first player classification and a second player classification, said method comprising the steps of: storing, on a host computer, a plurality of player tracking accounts associated with each of the players, each player tracking account including a classification status indicative of whether the player belongs to the first player classification or the second player classification; randomly selecting a first set of symbols associated with each player tracking account, each symbol of the first set of symbols being selected from a predefined set of symbols; establishing a first accumulator and a second accumulator, the first player classification being associated with the first accumulator, the second player classification being associated with the second accumulator; establishing a matching rule for playing the matching game, the matching rule being defined to include a predefined quantity of matched symbols; establishing a first jackpot pool and a second jackpot pool for awarding prizes to the players, the first jackpot pool being associated with the first accumulator, the second jackpot pool being associated with the second accumulator; allowing the players to initiate a session by logging onto a gaming machine; identifying the players who have logged onto a gaming machine; adding a contribution amount to one of the first and second jackpot pools as a function of the classification status of each identified player, the contribution amount associated with the first classification being different from the contribution amount associated with the second classification; determining, by the host computer, the first set of symbols for each player based on the corresponding player tracking account; detecting, by the host computer, an occurrence of a predetermined trigger and responsively identifying a subset of players from the plurality of players in the current session; initiating, by the host computer, the matching game in response to the occurrence of the predetermined trigger; allowing each player of the subset of players to individually select a replacement symbol from the predefined set of symbols and to replace a symbol of the first set of symbols with the player selected replacement symbol to generate a second set of symbols associated with the corresponding player tracking account; randomly generating, by the host computer, a match set of symbols from the predefined set of symbols; comparing, by the host computer, the match set of symbols against the second set of symbols for each player in the subset of players and, for each player, determine a quantity of matched symbols included in the second set of symbols; and responsively awarding a prize, by the host computer, from the first or second jackpot pools to each player whose second set of symbols satisfies the matching rule including the predefined quantity of matched symbols, as a function of the respective classification status.