Patent ID: 7922573

Claim:
A gaming device controlled by a processor, said gaming device comprising: a plurality of reel sets, wherein at least one reel set includes: an inner reel including a plurality of symbol positions and a plurality of symbols; and at least one outer reel defining at least a first viewable area and a second viewable area, the first viewable area and the second viewable area being different sizes, wherein the outer reel is positionable such that at least one of the symbols on the inner reel is viewable through the first viewable area and a different number of the symbols on the inner reel are viewable through the second viewable area; at least one input device; and at least one memory device which stores a plurality of instructions, which when executed by the processor, cause the processor to operate with the at least one input device and the plurality of reel sets to: (a) receive a wager on a number of active symbol positions, wherein said number of wagered on symbol positions is greater than one; (b) cause each of the inner reels to display at least one of the symbols; (c) cause each of the outer reels to indicate one of said first or second viewable areas, wherein the number of symbols viewable through the indicated viewable areas is based on the number of wagered on active symbol positions; (d) identify each of the symbols at active symbol positions which are viewable through the indicated viewable areas for a first of said reel sets and a second of said reel sets; (e) determine if any of said viewable symbols for the first reel set are related to any of said viewable symbols for the second reel set, wherein each occurrence of related symbols forms a string of related symbols; (f) for each string of related symbols: (i) determine if any symbols at active symbol positions which are viewable through the indicated viewable areas for an adjacent reel set are related to the symbols which form said string of related symbols, (ii) if one of said symbols which is viewable through the indicated viewable areas for the adjacent reel set is related to the symbols which form said string of related symbols, add said viewable related symbol to said string of related symbols, (iii) if any other of said symbols which are viewable through the indicated viewable areas for the adjacent reel set are related to the symbols which form said string of related symbols, form an additional string of related symbols for each of the other related symbols, and (iv) if none of said symbols which are viewable through the indicated viewable areas for the adjacent reel set are related to the symbols which form said string of related symbols, designate said string of related symbols as complete; (g) repeat (f) until either each of the strings of related symbols are complete or there are no additional reel sets adjacent to the last reel set which includes one of the related symbols; and (h) provide to a player any awards based on any strings of related symbols which correspond with any winning combinations of symbols.