Patent ID: 8020866

Claim:
A gaming system comprising: a display device; an input device; a processor; and a memory device which stores a plurality of instructions, which when executed by the processor, cause the processor to operate with the display device and the input device to, for a play of a game: (a) cause at least two, but less than all, of a plurality of reels to display a partial symbol combination for evaluation, said partial symbol combination including at least two symbols of a plurality of symbols; (b) before at least one other reel of the plurality of reels is caused to display any symbols for evaluation, evaluate the displayed partial symbol combination to determine a required wager amount based, at least in part, on said evaluation of the displayed partial symbol combination; (c) enable a player to place the required wager amount; and (d) after the player places the required wager amount: (i) for each of the at least one other reel of the plurality of reels, cause said other reel to display a randomly generated symbol of the plurality of symbols, said displayed randomly generated symbol and said displayed partial symbol combination forming a complete symbol combination, (ii) evaluate the formed complete symbol combination to determine any awards associated with the formed complete symbol combination based, at least on part, on said evaluation of the formed complete symbol combination, and (iii) cause any determined awards to be provided to the player.