Patent ID: 8562416

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 to control a single play of a game by: (a) displaying a plurality of reels associated with said game, said reels arranged in a plurality of reel columns, said reels including a plurality of symbols, wherein different pluralities of said symbols form different winning symbol combinations and different winning symbol combinations are associated with different awards; (b) causing a random generation and display of a plurality of said symbols on the reels; (c) determining if the generated symbols form any of said winning symbol combinations along any wagered on paylines associated with the reels; (d) for each wagered on payline, if at least one of said winning symbol combinations is formed along said wagered on payline, displaying the award associated with said formed winning symbol combination; and (e) in addition to and independent of if any winning symbol combinations are formed along any wagered on paylines: (i) determining if any of said generated symbols at any wagered on symbol positions for a requisite number of adjacent reel columns form a string of related symbols, wherein each formed string of related symbols includes one designated generated symbol for each reel and said requisite number of adjacent reel columns is at least two; (ii) determining if any formed strings of related symbols corresponds to any of said winning symbol combinations; and (iii) if at least one formed string of related symbols corresponds to at least one of said winning symbol combinations, for each of said formed strings of related symbols which corresponds to one of said winning symbol combinations, displaying the award associated with said corresponding winning symbol combination.