Patent ID: 8323091

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 input device and the at least one display device, for a play of a game, to: (a) display a plurality of symbol positions in a designated arrangement of symbol positions, (b) for each of the symbol positions, display a randomly generated one of a plurality of symbols in said symbol position, (c) determine if the displayed symbols form any game winning symbol combinations, (d) when the displayed symbols form any game winning symbol combinations: (i) provide an award based on said game winning symbol combinations; (ii) remove at least one symbol from at least one game winning symbol combination from display, (iii) display one of the plurality of symbols in each of any then-empty symbol positions, and (iv) repeat (c) and (d), and (e) when the displayed symbols do not form any game winning symbol combinations: (i) determine whether to provide an additional win opportunity, said determination being independent of the displayed symbols, (ii) when the determination is to provide the additional win opportunity: (A) remove at least one symbol from display based on at least one removal criterion, (B) cause any symbol which is displayed in a predetermined spatial relationship with any empty symbol position to shift in to that empty symbol position according to a predetermined rule, (C) after said shifting, generate one or more of the plurality of symbols in each of any then-empty symbol positions, (D) determine if the displayed symbols form any additional winning symbol combinations, and (E) when the displayed symbols form any additional winning symbol combinations, provide an additional award based on said additional winning symbol combinations, and (iii) when the determination is not to provide the additional win opportunity, terminate the play of the game.