Patent ID: 7837546
Filing Date: 2010-11-23
Classification: G07F

Abstract:
1. A gaming machine having a display and a game controller arranged to control images displayed on the display, the game controller being arranged to play a game in which a player stakes a wager on the outcome of the game and if the outcome is a predefined winning event the gaming machine awards the player a prize, the game being a spinning reel game in which a first set of spinning reels are spun and appear to stop in random positions on the display to thereby define an outcome of a game played on the gaming machine, each spinning reel in the first set of spinning reels having a multiplicity of game outcome symbols carried thereon, said winning events being defined by the position at which each spinning reel in the first set of spinning reels appears to stop, as evidenced by the game outcome symbols carried on each reel in the first set of spinning reels that are displayed in display positions on the display at the outcome of each game, with a plurality of different winning events being defined by different combinations of the game outcome symbols and wherein a first said winning event is defined by a first combination of the game outcome symbols and a second said winning event is defined by a second combination of the game outcome symbols including different ones of the game outcome symbols from the first combination, the value of the prizes associated with different winning events being set out in a paytable applicable to the game being played, wherein the paytable includes for each of the different combinations of the game outcome symbols defining the winning events a plurality of different sub-paytables, the different sub-paytables defining different prizes that may be paid by the gaming machine for combinations of the game outcome symbols, and wherein the gaming machine displays to the player as a part of the paytable each of the plurality of different sub-paytables, in addition to the first set of spinning reels, the game comprises a distinct bonus reel that has at least one special symbol carried thereon, the bonus reel is such that it does not carry any of the game outcome symbols, and wherein each of the special symbols is a symbol that affects which of the sub-paytables is used by the game controller to determine the prize that is paid for a said winning event, the game controller being arranged to spin the bonus reel and to subsequently stop the bonus reel from spinning, which may result in one of the special symbols being displayed in a predefined bonus position on the display, wherein when a said winning event occurs and one of the special symbols is not displayed in the predefined bonus position on the display, the game controller causes the gaming machine to pay a first positive value prize according to a first of the sub-paytables; and when the same said winning event occurs one of the special symbols is displayed in the predefined bonus position on the display, the game controller causes the gaming machine to pay a second positive value prize according to a second of the sub-paytables, wherein the second positive value is greater than the first positive value prize.