US Patent 11710377 Symbol upgrade wave

The present disclosure includes an illustrative method that includes initiating a first play of a game, where the game includes an array of cells; rendering a first distribution of symbols in the array of cells, where each cell in the array of cells includes a discrete symbol in the first distribution of symbols; determining that the first distribution of symbols qualifies for a symbol upgrade, where the set of symbols include a first symbol type; identifying each symbol in the first distribution of symbols that includes the first symbol type; and automatically performing the symbol upgrade, where each symbol in the set of symbols as well as at least one additional symbol not in the set of symbols are upgraded from the first symbol type to a second symbol type.