Be clever, play clever, and pickup craps the correct way!
Dice and dice games date all the way back to the Middle Eastern Crusades, but modern craps is approximately one hundred years old. Current craps developed from the 12th Century English game referred to as Hazard. No one knows for certain the ancestry of the game, but Hazard is said to have been created by the Englishman, Sir William of Tyre, sometime in the twelfth century. It’s theorized that Sir William’s knights gambled on Hazard during a blockade on the citadel Hazarth in 1125 AD. The title Hazard was derived from the fortress’s name.
Early French colonizers brought the game Hazard to Acadia. In the 1700s, when banished by the English, the French relocated down south and found sanctuary in southern Louisiana where they eventually became known as Cajuns. When they left Acadia, they brought their preferred game, Hazard, with them. The Cajuns streamlined the game and made it mathematically fair. It is believed that the Cajuns altered the title to craps, which is derived from the name of the losing toss of two in the game of Hazard, recognized as "crabs."
From Louisiana, the game migrated to the Mississippi barges and throughout the country. Many think the dice builder John H. Winn as the creator of current craps. In the early 1900s, Winn developed the current craps setup. He appended the Do not Pass line so players could bet on the dice to not win. Later, he designed the boxes for Place wagers and added the Big 6, Big 8, and Hardways.
