Patent ID: 11887434
Assignee: nan
Field: Control (Instruments)
Classification: CPC G | IPC G

Claim 9:
10. A gaming device comprising:
a game display having a game grid of symbol positions;
a wager input device structured to receive physical currency or currency based tickets, the currency or currency based tickets establishing a credit balance, the credit balance being increasable or decreasable based at least on wagering activity; and
a processor configured to:
receive a first signal to initiate a first game of chance in response to placement of a first wager, the first wager decreasing the credit balance from a first credit balance amount to a second credit balance amount;
determine an outcome for the first game of chance by randomly determining symbols to be displayed in the game grid on the game display;
display the determined outcome of the first game of chance on the game display;
determine if an incrementing multiplier symbol appears on the game grid as part of the determined outcome for the first game of chance, the incrementing multiplier symbol associated with a first multiplier value;
provide any first awards for symbol combinations based on the determined outcome of the first game of chance, where any first awards associated with symbol combinations that include the incrementing multiplier symbol are multiplied by the first multiplier value of the incrementing multiplier symbol, and where the provided first awards as multiplied by the first multiplier value of the incrementing multiplier increase the credit balance from the second credit balance amount to a third credit balance amount;
receive a second signal to initiate a second game of chance in response to placement of a second wager, the second wager decreasing the credit balance from the third credit balance amount to a fourth credit balance amount, where the second game of chance is independent of the first game of chance;
when it has been determined that an incrementing multiplier symbol appears on the game grid in the first game of chance and the second game of chance has been initiated:
increment the first multiplier value to generate a second multiplier value associated with the incrementing multiplier symbol, and
lock the incrementing multiplier symbol in the symbol position on the game grid during the second game of chance;

determine an outcome for the second game of chance by maintaining the position of the locked incrementing multiplier symbol on the game grid and randomly determining symbols to be displayed in non-locked symbol positions of the game grid; and
provide any second awards for symbol combinations based on the determined outcome of the second game of chance, where provided second awards increase the credit balance from the fourth credit balance amount to a fifth credit balance amount.