Patent ID: 8500543

Claim:
A video gaming machine, comprising: a video display device; and, a game controller for displaying a base instance of the video slot game on the video display device, initializing the base instance of the video slot game, and responsively detecting a triggering condition, the triggering condition including a predetermined symbol located within at least one triggering cell of the base instance of the video slot game, the game controller, in response to detecting the triggering condition, for splitting the base instance of the video slot game into a plurality of sub-instances of the video slot game and displaying the sub-instances of the video slot game on the video display device, for establishing an outcome of each of the plurality of sub-instances of the video slot game and awarding a respective award as a function of the outcome of each of the plurality of sub-instances of the video slot games and a predetermined paytable, wherein the predetermined symbol is copied into the at least one triggering cell of each sub-instance of the video slot game and is held throughout play thereof.