Systems and methods for controlling a game and administering wagers on a game

A system for administering wagers on a game, the system including:

• a host station having a processor and a storage device coupled to the processor, and
• a player interface communicatively coupled to the host station and providing a user interface enabling a player to interact with the host station;
• the storage device storing instructions which when executed by the processor, cause the processor to:
• receive a selection via the user interface of the player interface of one or more wagers placed by the player, each wager denoting a selection of a game outcome from a predetermined set of possible game outcomes;
• determine for each of multiple game pieces either a first state or a second state;
• cause a display at a display device of one or more properties associated with the selected state of each game piece;
• determine a first game outcome by determining a number of game pieces being in a state associated with a first property, and determine a second game outcome by determining a number of game pieces being in a state associated with a second property;
• and
• administer credit to the player for each wager for which it is determined that either the first game outcome or the second game outcome corresponds with the game outcome selected for the wager.

A system for controlling a game, the system including a host station for hosting a live session of the game and configured to communicate with one or more remote player interfaces via which players can place wagers on the game, the host station providing:

• a processor;
• a storage device coupled to the processor;
• a recording device for recording a host playing the game;
• and
• a communication device configured for communicating with one or more remote player interfaces;
• the system further including a game piece distribution device configured to distribute multiple game pieces used for playing the game, and
• the system being configured such that:
• during a first phase, prior to the game beginning, wagers are placed by players at the remote players stations and communicated to the host station;
• during a second phase, prior to the game beginning, wagers cannot be placed;
• and
• during a third phase the game is played by distribution of multiple game pieces and during which wagers cannot be placed;
• a transition from the first phase to the second phase being triggered by a first stage of operation of the game piece distribution device, and a transition to the third phase from the second phase being triggered by a second stage of operation of the game piece distribution device.

A system for controlling a game, the system including a host station for hosting a live session of the game and configured to communicate with one or more remote player interfaces via which players can place wagers on the game, the game involving a distribution of game pieces each having a first side and a second side, such that either first side or second side faces upward following distribution of the game pieces, each game piece having a machine-readable watermark on at least one of the first side or second side, the host station providing:

• a processor;
• a storage device coupled to the processor;
• a camera for recording a host playing the game;
• and
• a communication device configured for communicating with one or more remote player interfaces;
• the camera being operable to receive images of the distributed game pieces,
• and the processor being operable to determine for each game piece an image received by the camera, whether a watermark is visible in the image, and where a watermark is visible on a game piece, to determine a state of a respective game piece.