Patent ID: 8460092

Claim:
A wagering gaming machine comprising: a video monitor; a cpu for operating the video monitor and other aspects of the gaming machine according to a gameplay methodology; a wager input device; and a player command input device that receives player selections, including player gameplay selections, in the course of gameplay, the gameplay methodology generating a construct on the video monitor that changes in shape through increasing or decreasing in size along at least one dimension, a change in size being affected by a player's gameplay selection; the gameplay methodology further evaluating an outcome based upon an aspect of the size along the at least one dimension, and providing an award, if any, in view of a predetermined outcome evaluation award format, wherein the video monitor has a playfield generated thereon with a base defined on the playfield, the player gameplay selections causing the construct to change in terms of a distance of a furthest point of the construct from the base the award format being predicated upon said distance, wherein upon gameplay initiation the construct is an array of interconnected objects, at least some of the objects being of differing quality, a player gameplay selection potentially resulting in elimination of objects of a certain quality from the array, and other objects which are no longer interconnected are also eliminated, said process of elimination potentially resulting in a decreased distance between the base and a now-furthest object from the base.