Shifting side reels into reel area for electronic gaming device

One or more non-transitory computer-readable media having stored thereon computer-executable instructions for causing one or more processors, when programmed thereby, to perform operations to achieve a target level of volatility while maintaining a designated level of return to player (“RTP”) at an electronic gaming device, the operations comprising:

• selecting a set of active reels for a mode that includes spinning at least some of the set of active reels on a display screen of the electronic gaming device, each of the active reels having an associated reel strip that is movable through a reel area on the display screen of the electronic gaming device upon a spin of the reel, the active reels including one or more main reels and one or more side reels, the one or more side reels having, compared to the one or more main reels, on their respective associated reel strips a higher proportion of symbols with enhanced value;
• selecting a subset of the active reels for the mode, including, for a game instance, determining a final shift amount and final shift direction of the active reels away from an initial reel position, the mode further including shifting at least some of the active reels into the reel area while shifting at least some of the active reels out of the reel area during the game instance, before stopping at the subset of the active reels shifted in the final shift amount and the final shift direction during the game instance, thereby changing volatility for the designated level of RTP, wherein the selecting the subset of active reels further includes:
• generating a random number with a random number generator;
• and
• using a weighted table to determine the subset of active reels based at least in part on the random number, the weighted table including multiple entries, each of the multiple entries indicating an option for the subset of active reels;
• and
• determining an outcome of the mode.

A system comprising one or more processors and memory, the system being configured to perform operations to achieve a target level of volatility while maintaining a designated level of return to player (“RTP”) at an electronic gaming device, the operations comprising:

• selecting a set of active reels for a process, each of the active reels having an associated reel strip that is movable through a reel area on a display screen of the electronic gaming device upon a spin of the reel, the active reels including one or more main reels and one or more side reels, the one or more side reels having, compared to the one or more main reels, on their respective associated reel strips a higher proportion of symbols with enhanced value;
• spinning, for a game instance, at least some of the set of the active reels on the display screen;
• selecting a subset of the active reels, the subset of the active reels including at least one of the one or more side reels;
• shifting at least some of the set of the active reels into the reel area while shifting at least some of the active reels out of the reel area, before stopping at the subset of the active reels, thereby increasing volatility for the designated level of RTP, wherein the shifting includes, in each of multiple iterations:
• determining a shift amount and a shift direction for the iteration;
• and
• shifting the active reels in the shift direction, to the extent of the shift amount, for the iteration, whereby at least some of the active reels are shifted into the reel area and at least some of the active reels are shifted out of the reel area for the iteration;
• determining an outcome of the game instance;
• and
• outputting an indication of the outcome of the game instance.