Patent ID: 8616972

Claim:
A method for interacting with mechanical reels via a video screen, the method comprising: providing a gaming machine having one or more mechanical reels positioned behind a video screen, the video screen including a touch screen and a user interface for receiving user input; receiving a player bet; spinning the one or more mechanical reels, and during the spinning of the mechanical reels, receiving a signal from the user interface to stop spinning one identified particular mechanical reel while at least one mechanical reel continues to spin; stopping the mechanical reels and producing a game outcome visible to the player through the video screen; receiving a request via the user interface to rearrange the placement order of the mechanical reels; displaying, on the video screen, the rearranged order of the mechanical reels; reordering selected symbols of a selected mechanical reel such that a first selected symbol of the selected mechanical reel replaces a second selected symbol of the selected mechanical reel and the second selected symbol replaces the first selected symbol; and presenting one or more virtual reels on the video screen for use in conjunction with the mechanical reels during a game.