Patent ID: 7789751

Claim:
A gaming device comprising: at least one display device; at least one input device; at least one processor; and a 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 said at least one display device and said at least one input device to: (a) provide a game including: (i) a plurality of symbols, said symbols including at least one first symbol and at least one second symbol, said second symbols being different than said first symbols, (ii) a wild indicator, said wild indicator having a predefined association with at least one of the first symbols and with at least one of the second symbols prior to receiving a wager from a player and prior to providing the player a play of the game, (iii) a plurality of winning symbol combinations, and (iv) a plurality of awards associated with said plurality of winning symbol combinations; and (b) provide the play of the game by: (i) randomly generating a plurality of the symbols, (ii) simultaneously displaying: (A) said generated symbols including any generated first symbols and any generated second symbols, (B) the wild indicator in conjunction with each of the displayed first symbols which are associated with the wild indicator, and (C) the wild indicator in conjunction with each of the displayed second symbols which are associated with the wild indicator, (iii) making a random determination whether said any wild indicator displayed in conjunction with: (A) any of said displayed first symbols and having a predefined association with any of said displayed first symbols, or (B) displayed in conjunction with any of said displayed second symbols and having a predefined association with any of said displayed second symbols is activated, said random determination being independent of positions of any of the displayed first symbols and second symbols, (iv) if said wild indicator is activated, indicating each of the generated first symbols associated with said wild indicator as wild, (v) if said wild indicator is activated, indicating each of the generated second symbols associated with said wild indicator as wild, (vi) evaluating the displayed symbols including any symbols indicated as wild for any of the winning symbol combinations, and (vii) displaying any awards associated with any determined winning symbol combinations.