Be smart, play brilliant, and become versed in craps the correct way!
Dice and dice games goes all the way back to the Crusades, but modern craps is approximately a century old. Modern craps come about from the old English game called Hazard. Nobody knows for sure the birth of the game, however Hazard is said to have been discovered by the Englishman, Sir William of Tyre, around the twelfth century. It is believed that Sir William’s soldiers enjoyed Hazard through a blockade on the fortress Hazarth in 1125 AD. The name Hazard was acquired from the citadel’s name.
Early French settlers brought the game Hazard to Nova Scotia. In the 1700s, when displaced by the English, the French relocated south and settled in southern Louisiana where they a while later became known as Cajuns. When they were driven out of Acadia, they brought their preferred game, Hazard, along. The Cajuns simplified the game and made it more mathematically fair. It is believed that the Cajuns altered the title to craps, which was acquired from the name of the losing throw of 2 in the game of Hazard, referred to as "crabs."
From Louisiana, the game moved to the Mississippi river boats and all over the nation. Many consider the dice builder John H. Winn as the father of current craps. In the early 1900s, Winn created the current craps layout. He created the Do not Pass line so gamblers can wager on the dice to not win. Afterwords, he established the spaces for Place wagers and added the Big 6, Big 8, and Hardways.
