Be cunning, play brilliant, and discover how to play craps the correct way!
Dice and dice games date back to the Middle Eastern Crusades, but modern craps is only about a century old. Current craps developed from the old Anglo game referred to as Hazard. No one absolutely knows the birth of the game, although Hazard is said to have been made up by the Anglo, Sir William of Tyre, around the 12th century. It’s presumed that Sir William’s soldiers wagered on Hazard through a siege on the castle Hazarth in 1125 AD. The title Hazard was derived from the citadel’s name.
Early French colonists imported the game Hazard to Canada. In the 18th century, when driven away by the English, the French moved south and found sanctuary in the south of Louisiana where they after a while became known as Cajuns. When they left Acadia, they brought their favorite game, Hazard, along. The Cajuns streamlined the game and made it fair mathematically. It’s said that the Cajuns changed the name to craps, which is derived from the name of the losing throw of 2 in the game of Hazard, recognized as "crabs."
From Louisiana, the game migrated to the Mississippi river boats and throughout the country. Most consider the dice builder John H. Winn as the father of modern craps. In 1907, Winn designed the modern craps setup. He added the Don’t Pass line so gamblers could bet on the dice to not win. Afterwords, he invented the boxes for Place wagers and added the Big 6, Big 8, and Hardways.
