Be smart, play clever, and become versed in craps the right way!
Dice and dice games date all the way back to the Crusades, but modern craps is only about one hundred years old. Current craps come about from the 12th Century English game referred to as Hazard. No one knows for sure the origin of the game, although Hazard is said to have been made up by the Englishman, Sir William of Tyre, sometime in the twelfth century. It is presumed that Sir William’s knights enjoyed Hazard during a siege on the castle Hazarth in 1125 AD. The name Hazard was acquired from the fortification’s name.
Early French colonists brought the game Hazard to Nova Scotia. In the 1700s, when driven away by the British, the French headed south and settled in the south of Louisiana where they after a while became known as Cajuns. When they departed Acadia, they brought their favored game, Hazard, along. The Cajuns modernized the game and made it mathematically fair. It’s said that the Cajuns changed the name to craps, which was acquired from the name of the losing throw of 2 in the game of Hazard, recognized as "crabs."
From Louisiana, the game moved to the Mississippi river boats and throughout the nation. Most consider the dice builder John H. Winn as the founder of current craps. In 1907, Winn built the current craps setup. He put in place the Don’t Pass line so players can wager on the dice to not win. Afterwords, he developed the spots for Place bets and added the Big 6, Big 8, and Hardways.
