Be cunning, play smart, and become versed in craps the ideal way!
Games that use dice and the dice themselves goes all the way back to the Crusades, but modern craps is just about a century old. Current craps formed from the 12th Century English game called Hazard. Nobody knows for sure the ancestry of the game, but Hazard is said to have been invented by the Englishman, Sir William of Tyre, around the twelfth century. It’s presumed that Sir William’s paladins bet on Hazard amid a siege on the castle Hazarth in 1125 AD. The title Hazard was acquired from the fortification’s name.
Early French settlers brought the game Hazard to Acadia. In the 18th century, when displaced by the English, the French headed south and settled in southern Louisiana where they eventually became Cajuns. When they left Acadia, they took their favored game, Hazard, along. The Cajuns broke down the game and made it more mathematically fair. It is said that the Cajuns adjusted the title to craps, which was derived from the term for the bad luck throw of snake-eyes in the game of Hazard, recognized as "crabs."
From Louisiana, the game extended to the Mississippi barges and across the nation. Most consider the dice maker John H. Winn as the father of current craps. In 1907, Winn built the modern craps setup. He appended the Don’t Pass line so players could wager on the dice to not win. At another time, he established the boxes for Place bets and put in place the Big 6, Big 8, and Hardways.
