Be clever, play clever, and learn how to play craps the right way!
Games that use dice and the dice themselves date all the way back to the Middle Eastern Crusades, but current craps is just about a century old. Modern craps come about from the 12th Century English game referred to as Hazard. No one knows for certain the birth of the game, although Hazard is believed to have been invented by the Englishman, Sir William of Tyre, in the 12th century. It is theorized that Sir William’s soldiers enjoyed Hazard amid a blockade on the fortress Hazarth in 1125 AD. The title Hazard was acquired from the fortification’s name.
Early French colonizers brought the game Hazard to Acadia. In the 18th century, when banished by the British, the French relocated south and settled in the south of Louisiana where they a while later became known as Cajuns. When they left Acadia, they brought their best-loved game, Hazard, along. The Cajuns broke down the game and made it mathematically fair. It is believed that the Cajuns changed the name to craps, which was gotten from the term for the non-winning throw of two in the game of Hazard, referred to as "crabs."
From Louisiana, the game moved to the Mississippi riverboats and across the country. Many consider the dice builder John H. Winn as the creator of modern craps. In 1907, Winn assembled the modern craps layout. He created the Don’t Pass line so gamblers could wager on the dice to lose. At another time, he invented the spaces for Place wagers and added the Big 6, Big 8, and Hardways.
