Gaming machine and method with ratcheting enhancement feature

A gaming system comprising:

• a presentation assembly;
• and
• game-logic circuitry configured to execute instructions, which when executed cause the gaming system to perform operations to:
• animate, via the presentation assembly prior to a first game cycle of a plurality of game cycles for a game, a set of ratcheting objects, wherein each one of the set of ratcheting objects is paired, via a persistent-enhancer table, with a separate game symbol of a set of game symbols used for the game, and wherein a respective enhancer value for each one of the set of ratcheting objects is configured to persist, via the presentation assembly, across the plurality of game cycles;
• animate, via the presentation assembly for the first game cycle in response to access to at least one pay table stored in a memory device of the gaming system, an occurrence of a win event using a given game symbol randomly selected by a random number generator from the set of the game symbols, wherein the given game symbol is paired respectively with one of the set of ratcheting objects;
• animate for the win event, via the presentation assembly in response to the animating the occurrence of the win event, an enhancement of a game feature associated with the win event using an enhancer value for the one of the set of ratcheting objects that is paired respectively with the given game symbol;
• in response to animation of the enhancement, animate, via the presentation assembly, a reset of the enhancer value for the one of the set of ratcheting objects to a default value;
• and
• animate, via the presentation assembly, an increment of each respective enhancer value depicted via each of one or more other ones of the set of ratcheting objects that were not used for animating the enhancement of the game feature during the first game cycle, wherein the incremented respective enhancer value of each of the one or more other ones of the set of ratcheting objects persists, via the display, to a second game cycle subsequent to the first game cycle.

One or more non-transitory, machine-readable mediums having instructions stored thereon, which when executed by a set of one or more processors causes a gaming system to perform operations comprising:

• animating, by a presentation assembly of a gaming machine prior to a first game cycle of a first plurality of game cycles for a first type of game, a set of ratcheting objects, wherein each one of the set of ratcheting objects is paired, via a persistent-enhancer table, with a separate game symbol of a set of game symbols used for a first type of game and for a second type of game, and wherein a respective enhancer value for each one of the set of ratcheting objects is configured to persist, via the presentation assembly, across a first plurality of game cycles for the first type of game and across a second plurality of game cycles for the second type of game;
• animating, via the presentation assembly during the first plurality of game cycles for the first type of game in response to access to at least one pay table stored in a memory device of the gaming machine, one or more occurrences of one or more specific game events using one or more selected game symbols randomly selected by a random number generator from the set of the game symbols, wherein each one of the set of game symbols is paired respectively with one of the set of ratcheting objects;
• in response to animating the one or more occurrences of the one or more specific game events during the first plurality of game cycles, animating an increment to each respective enhancer value for each of the set of ratcheting objects that paired with the one or more selected game symbols from the set of the game symbols;
• in response to a trigger that initiates the second type of game storing, as a respective reset value, a current value of each respective enhancer value for each of the set of ratcheting objects;
• animating, via the presentation assembly during a given game cycle from the second plurality of game cycles for the second type of game in response to access to at least one pay table stored in the memory device of the gaming machine, an occurrence of a win event using a given game symbol randomly selected by the random number generator from the set of game symbols;
• animating for the win event, via the presentation assembly in response to the animating the occurrence of the win event, an enhancement of a game feature associated with the win event using the respective enhancer value for one of the set of ratcheting objects that is paired respectively with the given game symbol;
• in response to animating the enhancement, animating, via the presentation assembly, a reset of the respective enhancer value for the one of the set of ratcheting objects to its respective reset value;
• and
• animating, via the presentation assembly, an increment of each respective enhancer value depicted via each of one or more other ones of the set of ratcheting objects that were not used for animating the enhancement of the game feature during the given game cycle from the second plurality of game cycles, wherein the incremented respective enhancer value of each of the one or more other ones of the set of ratcheting objects persists, via the presentation assembly, to either an additional game cycle of the second type of game subsequent to the given game cycle or to one or more third plurality of game cycles of the first type of game.