Gaming machines that provide players awards in primary or base games are well known. These gaming machines generally require a player to place a wager to activate a play of the primary game. For many of these gaming machines, any award provided to a player for a wagered-on play of a primary game is based on the player obtaining a winning symbol or a winning symbol combination and on the amount of the wager (e.g., the higher the wager, the higher the award). Winning symbols or winning symbol combinations that are less likely to occur usually provide higher awards.
For such known gaming machines, the amount of the wager placed on the primary game by the player may vary. For instance, the gaming machine may enable the player to wager a minimum number of credits, such as one credit (e.g., one cent, nickel, dime, quarter, or dollar) up to a maximum quantity of credits, such as five credits. This wager may be placed by the player a single time or multiple times in a single play of the primary game. For instance, gaming machine configured to operate a slot game may have one or more paylines, and the gaming machine may enable a player to place a wager on each payline for a single play of the slot game. Thus, it is known that a gaming machine, such as one configured to operate a slot game, may enable players to place wagers of substantially different amounts on each play of the primary game ranging, for example, from one credit up to 125 credits (e.g., five credits on each of twenty-five separate paylines). This is also true for other wagering games, such as video draw poker, where players can place wagers of one or more credits on each hand, and where multiple hands can be played simultaneously. Accordingly, it should be appreciated that different players play at substantially different wagering amounts or levels and at substantially different rates of play.
Gaming machines that provide cascading symbol games as primary games are also known. In one such cascading symbol game, a gaming machine generates and displays a plurality of symbols at a plurality of symbol positions. The gaming machine evaluates the displayed symbols and provides an award for each of any displayed winning symbol combinations. The gaming machine then removes the displayed symbols that form the winning symbol combination or combinations to create one or more empty symbol positions. The gaming machine shifts zero, one, or more of the remaining displayed symbols downward into zero, one, or more of the empty symbol positions. If any empty symbol positions remain, the gaming machine generates and displays a symbol at each empty symbol position. The gaming machine reevaluates the displayed symbols and provides an award for each of any displayed winning symbol combinations. The gaming machine repeats the steps of removing generated symbols, shifting generated symbols, generating new symbols if winning symbol combinations continue to be formed, and evaluating generated symbols.
There is a continuing need to increase player enjoyment and excitement by providing wagering games that utilize new cascading symbol features.