Gaming machine and methods of allowing a player to play gaming machines having modifiable reel features

A method of providing a slot game to a player, the slot game including a plurality of reels, each reel having a reel strip including a plurality of symbol positions and a plurality of game symbols displayed in each of the symbol positions in a predetermined order, including the steps of:

• allowing the player to make a wager on a first game, the first game including a primary game and a secondary game;
• randomly determining an outcome of the primary game and responsively spinning and stopping the reels to display the outcome of the primary game, the outcome of the primary game being displayed in a grid, the spinning reels being visible in the grid during play of the game;
• awarding a first award to the player based on the primary game outcome;
• detecting if a triggering graphic is being displayed with the primary game outcome, the triggering graphic being associated with at least one reel of the plurality of reels;
• responsively modifying a reel feature of a reel strip associated with the at least one reel upon detecting the appearance of the triggering graphic;
• generating an outcome of the secondary game including the modified reel strip;
• and,
• awarding a second award to the player based on the secondary game outcome.

One or more non-transitory computer-readable storage media, having computer-executable instructions embodied thereon, wherein when executed by at least one processor, the computer-executable instructions cause the processor to:

• display, on a display device, a first game including a plurality of reels, each reel having a reel strip including a plurality of symbol positions and a plurality of game symbols displayed in each of the symbol positions in a predetermined order, the first game including a primary game and a secondary game;
• randomly determine an outcome of the primary game and responsively spin and stop the reels to display the outcome of the primary game, the outcome of the primary game being displayed in a grid, the spinning reels being visible in the grid during play of the game;
• provide a first award to the player based on the primary game outcome;
• detect if a triggering graphic is being displayed with the primary game outcome, the triggering graphic being associated with at least one reel of the plurality of reels;
• responsively modify a reel feature of a reel strip associated with the at least one reel upon detecting the appearance of the triggering graphic;
• generate an outcome of a secondary game including the modified reel strip;
• and,
• provide a second award to the player based on the secondary game outcome.