Be brilliant, play cunning, and master craps the right way!
Dice and dice games goes back to the Crusades, but modern craps is approximately a century old. Modern craps formed from the ancient Anglo game referred to as Hazard. No one knows for sure the origin of the game, however Hazard is believed to have been made up by the Anglo, Sir William of Tyre, in the twelfth century. It’s presumed that Sir William’s paladins gambled on Hazard amid a blockade on the castle Hazarth in 1125 AD. The title Hazard was derived from the fortification’s name.
Early French colonists imported the game Hazard to Nova Scotia. In the 18th century, when banished by the British, the French relocated south and settled in southern Louisiana where they eventually became known as Cajuns. When they left Acadia, they brought their best-loved game, Hazard, along. The Cajuns streamlined the game and made it more mathematically fair. It is said that the Cajuns altered the name to craps, which was gotten from the name of the non-winning throw of 2 in the game of Hazard, known as "crabs."
From Louisiana, the game migrated to the Mississippi scows and across the nation. Most consider the dice builder John H. Winn as the father of modern craps. In the early 1900s, Winn built the current craps setup. He added the Do not Pass line so gamblers could bet on the dice to lose. Afterwords, he created the spaces for Place bets and put in place the Big 6, Big 8, and Hardways.
