Gaming machine and method with persistence feature

A gaming system comprising:

• a gaming machine including an electronic display device configured to display a plurality of symbol-bearing reels and an array of symbol positions;
• and
• game-logic circuitry configured to perform the operations of:
• conducting a first spin including:
• spinning and stopping the symbol-bearing reels to land one or more first value-bearing symbols borne by the reels in the array;
• and
• animating the array to tag the symbol positions in which the first value-bearing symbols land;
• and
• conducting a second spin subsequent to the first spin, the second spin including:
• again spinning and stopping the symbol-bearing reels to land (i) a second value-bearing symbol borne by the reels in one of the tagged symbol positions, (ii) a third value-bearing symbol borne by the reels in another one of the tagged symbol positions that is in a cluster with the one of the tagged symbol positions, and (iii) a fourth value-bearing symbol borne by the reels in a symbol position other than any of the tagged symbol positions;
• animating the array to display (i) a first value borne by the second value-bearing symbol in the one of the tagged symbol positions, (ii) a second value borne by the third value-bearing symbol in the another one of the tagged symbol positions, and (iii) a third value derived from the first and second values in any other ones of the tagged symbol positions in the cluster;
• awarding an award based on the first, second, and third values;
• animating the array to untag the one of the tagged symbol positions and any other ones of the tagged symbol positions that are in the cluster;
• and
• animating the array to tag the symbol position in which the fourth value-bearing symbol landed.

A method of operating a gaming machine, the method comprising the operations of:

• displaying, on an electronic display device, a plurality of symbol-bearing reels and an array of symbol positions;
• conducting a first spin including:
• spinning and stopping the symbol-bearing reels to land one or more first value-bearing symbols borne by the reels in the array;
• and
• animating the array to tag the symbol positions in which the first value-bearing symbols land;
• and
• conducting a second spin subsequent to the first spin, the second spin including:
• again spinning and stopping the symbol-bearing reels to land (i) a second value-bearing symbol borne by the reels in one of the tagged symbol positions, and (ii) a third value-bearing symbol borne by the reels in a symbol position other than any of the tagged symbol positions;
• animating the array to display a value borne by the second value-bearing symbol in the one of the tagged symbol positions and any other ones of the tagged symbol positions in a cluster with the one of the tagged symbol positions;
• awarding an award based on the value borne by the second value-bearing symbol, multiplied by the number of tagged symbol positions in the cluster;
• animating the array to untag the one of the tagged symbol positions and any other ones of the tagged symbol positions that are in the cluster;
• and
• animating the array to tag the symbol position in which the third value-bearing symbol landed.