Be cunning, play brilliant, and become versed in craps the correct way!
Dice and dice games date all the way back to the Crusades, but current craps is just about a century old. Modern craps evolved from the 12th Century English game called Hazard. Nobody knows for sure the ancestry of the game, however Hazard is believed to have been discovered by the Anglo, Sir William of Tyre, in the 12th century. It is supposed that Sir William’s soldiers wagered on Hazard through a blockade on the castle Hazarth in 1125 AD. The name Hazard was acquired from the castle’s name.
Early French colonizers brought the game Hazard to Nova Scotia. In the 18th century, when displaced by the English, the French relocated down south and settled in southern Louisiana where they a while later became Cajuns. When they were driven out of Acadia, they took their favored game, Hazard, along. The Cajuns streamlined the game and made it mathematically fair. It is said that the Cajuns changed the name to craps, which is acquired from the term for the bad luck toss of two in the game of Hazard, referred to as "crabs."
From Louisiana, the game extended to the Mississippi riverboats and throughout the country. A good many think the dice builder John H. Winn as the father of modern craps. In 1907, Winn designed the modern craps layout. He put in place the Don’t Pass line so gamblers could wager on the dice to lose. At another time, he established the boxes for Place bets and added the Big 6, Big 8, and Hardways.
