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A method for awarding a jackpot, and a corresponding gaming machine and system are disclosed. The jackpot is awarded based upon the presence of scatter symbols appearing in the game outcome in a predefined manner. The jackpot is preferred to be linked across multiple machines. In a preferred form, s

A method for awarding a jackpot, and a corresponding gaming machine and system are disclosed. The jackpot is awarded based upon the presence of scatter symbols appearing in the game outcome in a predefined manner. The jackpot is preferred to be linked across multiple machines. In a preferred form, scatter symbols on one reel may be in an active or inactive state, the jackpot is awarded only if they are in the active state, and the probability of them being in an active state is dependent upon the size of the player's wager, so as to provide linear returns to players.

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1. A method of playing a wagering game in a slot machine, the method comprising: determining by a processor an amount of a wager accepted for a wagering game of a slot machine;determining by the processor of the slot machine whether at least one symbol on a plurality of reels is displayed by the slo

1. A method of playing a wagering game in a slot machine, the method comprising: determining by a processor an amount of a wager accepted for a wagering game of a slot machine;determining by the processor of the slot machine whether at least one symbol on a plurality of reels is displayed by the slot machine as having one of an active state and an inactive state, wherein the determination has a probability of choosing the active state based on a ratio of the determined amount of the accepted wager relative to a maximum allowable wager amount for the slot machine; anddetermining by the processor a jackpot winning event for the wagering game by considering only symbols displayed as having an active state. 2. The method of claim 1, wherein determining the jackpot winning event comprises determining, if symbols displayed as having an active state appear across the plurality of reels in a predefined manner for the jackpot winning event, and if so then paying a jackpot amount according to at least one of a total number of symbols and a location of the symbols displayed as having an active state. 3. The method of claim 2, wherein the jackpot winning event has a probability that is linearly dependent upon the size of the accepted wager relative to the maximum allowable wager, and the probability of each symbol being displayed as having an active state is independently based upon the size of the accepted wager. 4. The method of claim 3, wherein the symbols displayed as having an inactive state are operative for determination of a winning outcome in non-jackpot game play. 5. The method of claim 2, wherein the jackpot amount is a progressive jackpot amount that is accumulated from wagers placed across a plurality of linked slot machine. 6. The method of claim 2, wherein the jackpot amount is accumulated from wagers placed on a single slot machine. 7. A system for operating a linked jackpot, the system comprising a plurality of slot machines linked to a central jackpot controller, the central jackpot controller and the plurality of slot machines configured to cooperate to: determine an amount of a wager accepted by a wagering game;determine whether at least one symbol on a plurality of reels is displayed by each slot machine as having one of an active state and an inactive state, wherein the determination has a probability of choosing the active state based on a ratio of the determined amount of the accepted wager relative to a maximum allowable wager amount for each slot machine; anddetermine a jackpot winning event considering only symbols displayed as having an active state. 8. A slot machine, including: a plurality of reels for displaying a plurality of symbols;a processor; anda selector for providing wager selection options, wherein the processor is configured to execute a game in accordance with software, wherein executing the game includes: the slot machine accepting a wager on a jackpot game on the slot machine;incrementing with the processor a total amount of a jackpot using at least a portion of the wager;determining with the processor an amount of the accepted wager;displaying the plurality of symbols on the reels, wherein the plurality of symbols are randomly displayed as variable state symbols on the reels, wherein variable state symbols are displayed as having either an active state or an inactive state, wherein displaying each of the plurality of symbols as having either an active state or an inactive state is probabilistically determined by the slot machine on a basis relative to the determined size of the accepted wager relative to a maximum allowable wager; anddetermining with the processor a jackpot winning event considering only the plurality of symbols that are displayed as having an active state. 9. The slot machine of claim 8, wherein the probability of winning the jackpot winning event is linearly dependent upon the size of the accepted wager relative to the maximum allowable wager for slot machine. 10. The slot machine of claim 8, wherein symbols displayed as having an inactive state are operative for non-jackpot game play. 11. The slot machine of claim 8, wherein the probability of the symbols being displayed as having an active state is dependent upon the size of the accepted wager relative to the maximum allowable wager, and wherein the probability of each of the symbols being displayed as having an active state is independently based upon the size of the accepted wager. 12. A system for operating a linked jackpot game, the system comprising a plurality of slot machines configured according to claim 8, the plurality of slot machines being linked to a central jackpot controller, wherein the central jackpot controller and the plurality of slot machines cooperate to provide a pooled jackpot incremented from wagers on all of the plurality of slot machines. 13. A method of providing a jackpot of a total amount of award at a time of resolving wagers in a slot machine having a plurality of reels, the slot machine executing a method comprising: accepting a wager on the outcome of the reels, the wager being an amount within a range of predetermined wagers from a lowest allowable wager amount of 1 credit up to a maximum allowable number of credits that is greater than 1;determining by a processor the amount of the accepted wager;executing by a processor a game such that the plurality of reels assume a random configuration displaying a plurality of symbols on the plurality of reels; anddetermining by a processor if at least one symbol of the plurality of symbols appears across at least one of the plurality of reels as having one of an active state and an inactive state in an active reel when determining the outcome of the simulated reels, wherein only symbols having an active state are considered in the determination of paying at least a portion of a jackpot, the portion of the jackpot paid being dependent on an amount of the accepted wager within the range, with a lower portion of the jackpot being paid for lower numbers of credits accepted within the range and a higher portion being paid for higher numbers of credits accepted within the range. 14. The method of claim 13, wherein the portion of the jackpot paid is proportional to the ratio of the accepted wager to the maximum wager. 15. The method of claim 14, wherein the portion of the jackpot paid is at least one of directly proportional and linearly proportional to the ratio of the accepted wager to the maximum wager. 16. The method of claim 15, wherein the entire jackpot is paid when the accepted wager is the maximum wager. 17. A method of playing a jackpot wagering game in a slot machine configured to display a plurality of symbols, the method comprising: the slot machine accepting a wager on a jackpot game of the slot machine;the slot machine incrementing a total amount of a jackpot using at least a portion of the accepted wager;the slot machine determining an amount of the accepted wager; andthe slot machine executing software to play the jackpot game by displaying the plurality of symbols, wherein at least some symbols of the plurality are randomly provided as variable state symbols on the reels, wherein the variable state symbols are symbols that are displayed as having one of an active state and an inactive state, and wherein only symbols displayed as having an active state are considered in the determination of jackpot winning events, and wherein display of the variable state symbols as having one of an active state and an inactive state is probabilistically determined on a basis associated with the determined amount of the accepted wager with a greater amount of the accepted wager resulting in a greater probability for the variable state symbols being displayed as having an active state. 18. The method of claim 1, wherein a determination for which symbol displayed for the at least one symbol is different than the determination of whether or not the symbol is displayed as having one of an active state and an inactive state. 19. The slot machine of claim 8, wherein the slot machine is a video slot machine, and wherein the plurality of reels are virtual reels of the video slot machine. 20. The method of claim 13, wherein the at least one symbol has its own probability for the symbol to be shown that is independent of a probability used to determine whether or not the at least one symbol is displayed as having one of an active state and an inactive state. 21. The method of claim 17, wherein the variable state symbols are displayed on the reels as having a symbol regardless of the displayed state. 22. The method of claim 17, wherein at least some symbols of the plurality are provided as single state symbols having only an active state. 23. A method of playing a wagering game in a slot machine, the method comprising: determining a plurality of symbols to be displayed by a plurality of reels; anddetermining by a processor if at least one symbol of the plurality is to be displayed as having one of an active state and an inactive state and displaying the at least one symbol according to the determination, wherein the determination of the at least one symbol to be displayed and the determination as to having one of an active state and an inactive state are both probabilistically determined but are independent determinations of each other. 24. The method of claim 23, wherein determining if the at least one symbol of the plurality is to be displayed as having one of an active state and an inactive state is based on a probability that increases the probability to have an active state as a wager amount increases. 25. The method of claim 23, further comprising determining if a plurality of symbols of the plurality are to be displayed as having one of an active state and an inactive state with a total probability having an active state being distributed among symbols of different reels.