Wagering game with collapsible reel area

Abstract

Disclosed are games, gaming machines, gaming systems and methods including a collapsible active reel display. During play of a game, the reels may be reduced in height from spin to spin in order to form different winning combinations. A multiplier may be modified upon each reduction in height. Similar reductions in the active reel display may result from columns or individual symbol cells being removed from subsequent play.

1 . A wagering game comprising:
 an interface activatable by a player;   a primary game comprising one or more game plays, at least one of the game plays occurring after activation of the interface by the player;   a set of indicia displayed according to a primary game outcome; and   a feature game comprising a set of collapsible reels.   
     
     
         2 . The game of  claim 1  wherein the reels are collapsed by removing at least one row of indicia displayed on the reels from win evaluation during subsequent spins of the collapsible reels. 
     
     
         3 . The game of  claim 2  wherein the collapsible reels are presented as collapsed by dimming the at least one row of indicia displayed on the reels. 
     
     
         4 . The game of  claim 2  wherein the collapsible reels are presented as collapsed by preventing the at least one row of indicia displayed on the reels from subsequently spinning. 
     
     
         5 . The game of  claim 1  wherein the primary game outcome is randomly or pseudo-randomly determined. 
     
     
         6 . The game of  claim 1  further comprising a wager, wherein play of the feature game is restricted by an amount of the wager. 
     
     
         7 . The game of  claim 1  further comprising a multiplier applied to each winning outcome of the feature game, the multiplier modified upon collapsing the collapsible reels. 
     
     
         8 . A method of operating a game on a gaming machine comprising a central processor and a memory and further comprising program logic stored in the memory usable to play at least one game in exchange for a wager, the method comprising the steps of:
 accepting a wager from a player;   initiating play of a first game according to the wager;   displaying a first game outcome;   upon a triggering event, initiating play of a feature game comprising a set of reels by way of the processor executing the program logic; and   removing at least one row of indicia from play in response to a second triggering event.   
     
     
         9 . The method of  claim 8  wherein the first game outcome is randomly or pseudo-randomly determined. 
     
     
         10 . The method of  claim 8  wherein play of the second game is restricted by an amount of the wager. 
     
     
         11 . The method of  claim 8  wherein the row of indicia are removed from play by eliminating that row from win evaluation at the end of each subsequent spin of the reels. 
     
     
         12 . The method of  claim 11  wherein the row of indicia are visually removed from play by dimming illumination of the row. 
     
     
         13 . The method of  claim 11  wherein the row of indicia are visually removed from play by obsuring the player's view of the row. 
     
     
         14 . The game of  claim 11  wherein the row of indicia are visually removed from play by preventing the spinning of the removed row in subsequent spins. 
     
     
         15 . The game of  claim 8  further comprising a multiplier, the multiplier modified upon occurrence of the second triggering event.