A GAMING MACHINE AND METHOD FOR PROVIDING A FEATURE GAME

A gaming machine comprises a credit input mechanism configured to receive a physical item representing a monetary value for establishing a credit balance, the credit balance being 5 increasable and decreasable based at least on wagering activity, a credit meter configured to monitor the credit balance, a manually operable player interface configured to, in accord with the wagering activity, initiate play of a base game, an electronic display having a display area, said display area having a plurality of display positions, memory storing data indicative of a set of symbols including a plurality of symbols having a particular characteristic, an evaluator 10 configured to monitor the occurrence of a trigger event, and to trigger a feature game in response to the occurrence of a trigger event, said feature game comprising a variable number of free games, a free game counter configured to generate a count representing a number of free games remaining to be played, and wherein said evaluator is configured to revise said free game counter upon the occurrence of a defined outcome of a free game and 15 to end the feature game when said count reaches a predetermined end count. During the feature game, the symbol selector is configured for each free game to: 1) hold at least some of the displayed symbols having the particular characteristic appearing on the display; 2) remove at least one of the displayed symbols without the particular characteristic from the display; 3) select randomly a replacement symbol from the set of symbols to replace a removed symbol 20 without the particular characteristic; and 4) replace the removed said one of the displayed symbols without the particular characteristic with the selected replacement symbol. The outcome evaluator is configured to make an award upon a matrix of display positions being filled by symbols having the particular characteristic.