Be cunning, play smart, and pickup craps the right way!
Games that use dice and the dice themselves goes all the way back to the Crusades, but current craps is approximately a century old. Modern craps come about from the 12th Century English game referred to as Hazard. Nobody absolutely knows the birth of the game, but Hazard is believed to have been made up by the Englishman, Sir William of Tyre, sometime in the twelfth century. It’s supposed that Sir William’s soldiers wagered on Hazard through a blockade on the fortification Hazarth in 1125 AD. The name Hazard was derived from the fortress’s name.
Early French settlers brought the game Hazard to Acadia. In the 1700s, when driven away by the British, the French relocated south and settled in the south of Louisiana where they eventually became Cajuns. When they left Acadia, they brought their preferred game, Hazard, with them. The Cajuns broke down the game and made it more mathematically fair. It is said that the Cajuns changed the name to craps, which is gotten from the term for the bad luck throw of 2 in the game of Hazard, recognized as "crabs."
From Louisiana, the game migrated to the Mississippi riverboats and across the nation. Most think the dice maker John H. Winn as the founder of current craps. In 1907, Winn assembled the modern craps layout. He added the Do not Pass line so gamblers could wager on the dice to lose. At another time, he designed the spots for Place wagers and put in place the Big 6, Big 8, and Hardways.
