Be smart, play clever, and learn how to play craps the ideal way!
Games that use dice and the dice themselves date back to the Middle Eastern Crusades, but current craps is just about one hundred years old. Current craps evolved from the old English game called Hazard. Nobody knows for certain the ancestry of the game, although Hazard is believed to have been made up by the Englishman, Sir William of Tyre, sometime in the 12th century. It’s believed that Sir William’s knights played Hazard through a siege on the castle Hazarth in 1125 AD. The name Hazard was derived from the fortification’s name.
Early French colonists brought the game Hazard to Acadia. In the 18th century, when banished by the British, the French headed south and settled in southern Louisiana where they after a while became Cajuns. When they fled Acadia, they brought their favorite game, Hazard, with them. The Cajuns simplified the game and made it mathematically fair. It is said that the Cajuns adjusted the title to craps, which was derived from the term for the non-winning toss of snake-eyes in the game of Hazard, recognized as "crabs."
From Louisiana, the game extended to the Mississippi barges and across the country. A few think the dice builder John H. Winn as the creator of current craps. In the early 1900s, Winn developed the current craps setup. He added the Don’t Pass line so players can bet on the dice to lose. At another time, he established the spots for Place wagers and added the Big 6, Big 8, and Hardways.
