Gaming machine and methods of allowing a player to play gaming machines having selectable reel strips

A gaming machine, comprising:

• a display device;
• a user input device configured to generate a signal indicative of a player's selection input;
• and
• a controller coupled to the display device and the user input device, the controller for displaying a game on the display device, the game including at least one reel and a plurality of reel strips associated with the at least one reel, wherein each reel strip of the plurality of reel strips includes a plurality of normal symbol positions and a plurality of special symbol positions, and wherein the plurality of reel strips includes a first reel strip having a first number of special symbol positions and a second reel strip having a second number of special symbol positions that is different than the first number of special symbol positions, the controller for randomly generating an outcome of the game and displaying the game outcome on the display device, for randomly selecting a symbol being displayed in each of number of special symbol positions, for selecting one of the first reel strip and the second reel strip as a function of the selected symbol, and for spinning and stopping the at least one reel to display the generated game outcome, the game outcome including the at least one reel being displayed with the selected one of the first and second reel strips and the selected symbol being displayed in each of the number of special symbol positions.

A system, comprising:

• a plurality of gaming devices, each gaming device including a user input device for accepting a player's selection input and a display device;
• and
• a system controller coupled to each gaming device of the plurality of gaming devices for displaying a game on at least one gaming device, the game including at least one reel and a plurality of reel strips associated with the at least one reel, wherein each reel strip of the plurality of reel strips includes a plurality of normal symbol positions and a plurality of special symbol positions, and wherein the plurality of reel strips includes a first reel strip having a first number of special symbol positions and a second reel strip having a second number of special symbol positions that is different than the first number of special symbol positions, the system controller for randomly generating an outcome of the game and displaying the game outcome on the display device, for randomly selecting a symbol being displayed in each of the number of special symbol positions;
• for selecting one of the first reel strip and the second reel strip as a function of the selected symbol, and for spinning and stopping the at least one reel to display the generated game outcome, the game outcome including the at least one reel being displayed with the selected one of the first and second reel strips and the selected symbol being displayed in each of the number of special symbol positions.