| 摘要 |
Embodiments of the present invention set forth systems, apparatuses and methods for combining symbols in gaming devices. Accordingly, a gaming device can be configured to display a plurality of game elements each including a game symbol on a game display in response to a game initiation signal. When one or more predefined game conditions are satisfied, the method further includes combining two or more of the game symbols in a single game element. In some instances, one or more of the symbols that left their respective game elements are replaced with additional game symbols. The resulting game grid may then be evaluated to determine prizes associated with winning symbol combinations, including using one or both of the symbols combined in the single game element in the winning symbol combinations. |
| 主权项 |
1. A poker gaming device comprising, a body structure having a player input device;
a video display device housed in the body structure, the video display including a game portion having a grid of multiple card positions; a memory device enclosed in the body structure, the memory device storing executable instructions and a plurality of virtual cards each having a rank value and a suit type, and configured to store a credit amount; a wager input device housed in the body structure, the wager input device structured to receive physical items associated with a currency value; and a processor enclosed in the body structure, the processor arranged to execute the instructions stored in the memory to: receive a signal from the wager input device indicating receipt of a physical item associated with a currency value; increase the credit amount stored in the memory based on the currency value of the received physical item; receive a wager on a poker game of chance, an amount of the wager deducted from the credit amount stored in the memory; display a first number of the plurality of virtual cards in the card positions of the grid, the displayed first number of virtual cards forming a poker hand; determine whether two or more of the displayed virtual cards meet a combination criterion; combine the two or more determined cards when said cards meet the combination criterion, the cards being combined in a single card position in the grid, wherein the combination of two or more determined cards in the single card position is a multi-indicia card symbol showing each of the combined cards; replace cards combined to a different card position on the grid with replacement cards from the plurality of virtual cards, where each grid position includes either a single virtual card or a multi-indicia card; and identify a plurality of resulting hands for the poker hand when one or more of the card positions of the grid are associated with a multiple-indicia card, each of the plurality of resulting hands including a different subset of a total of the cards by splitting indicia of the multiple-indicia card into individual cards and making combinations using the other cards in the card positions of the grid to generate the plurality of resulting hands; evaluate each of the generated plurality of first resulting hands to determine if it is associated with any awards; and increase the credit amount stored in a memory by amounts of any awards determined from the evaluated plurality of first resulting hands. |
