Patent ID: 8408991

Claim:
A method of providing primary and secondary games to players, including the steps of: providing a plurality of linked gaming machines, each gaming machine including a display; for each gaming machine: allowing an associated player to make a wager on a primary game; randomly selecting an outcome of the primary game; determining if the outcome of the primary game is a winning outcome; and, awarding the associated player a primary award as a function of the outcome, the wager made by the player, and a predetermined paytable; and, determining if a triggering conditioning occurred in one of the primary games and initiating a secondary game, the secondary game being a video slot game including a plurality of video reels, the video reels forming a grid displayed across the displays of the gaming machines; for the secondary game: randomly selecting an outcome of the secondary game; spinning the video reels and displaying a portion of the outcome of the secondary game on each video reel; and awarding one or more of the players a secondary award as a function of the outcome of the secondary game.