Patent ID: 8262458

Claim:
A gaming system comprising: at least one input device; at least one display device; at least one processor; and at least one memory device which stores a plurality of instructions, which when executed by the at least one processor, cause the at least one processor to operate with the at least one display device and the at least one input device to: (a) enable a player to play a base game; (b) display a symbol generator including a plurality of sections and a plurality of awards, wherein each of the sections displays one of the awards and said plurality of sections include at least a first section associated with a first probability of being indicated and a second section associated with a second probability of being indicated, wherein the first section and the second section are adjacent; (c) upon an occurrence of a joinder triggering event independent of any result of the symbol generator, display an indication that the first section and the second section have been joined and that the joined section is associated with a combined award which includes a combination of a first one of the awards corresponding to the first section and a second one of the awards corresponding to the second section, wherein the joined section has a probability of being indicated that is greater than the first probability and the joined section has a probability of being indicated that is greater than the second probability; and (d) if a bonus triggering event occurs, for a single activation of the symbol generator: (i) select a designated number of the sections, said designated number being at least one; (ii) indicate each of said selected sections of the symbol generator; and (iii) provide any awards of any indicated sections to the player, wherein if the joined section is indicated, all of the awards displayed in association with the joined section are provided to the player.