Patent ID: 8864568

Claim:
A gaming machine, comprising: a reel having a plurality of indicia and being rotatable along an axis; a display configured to display a portion of the reel; a user input device configured to generate a signal indicative of input by a player initiating a single spin of a game; and, a controller coupled to the display device and the user input device and being configured to begin the game and start rotating the reel in response to receiving the signal from the user input device; wherein during the single spin of the game, the controller: (i) detects a triggering condition as the reel is spinning and responsively holds one of the indicia on the display while the reel continues spinning, (ii) accumulates a number of times a predetermined one of the plurality of indicia on the spinning reel passes the held indicia while the reel continues spinning, (iii) stops rotating the reel, and (iv) detects a winning condition and responsively provides a prize to the player, the prize being a function of the winning condition and the accumulated number.