Be clever, play cunning, and pickup craps the proper way!
Games that use dice and the dice themselves date back to the Middle Eastern Crusades, but current craps is approximately 100 years old. Modern craps come about from the 12th Century Anglo game referred to as Hazard. No one absolutely knows the beginnings of the game, however Hazard is said to have been discovered by the Englishman, Sir William of Tyre, around the twelfth century. It’s believed that Sir William’s knights bet on Hazard amid a blockade on the fortification Hazarth in 1125 AD. The title Hazard was acquired from the fortification’s name.
Early French colonizers brought the game Hazard to Canada. In the 18th century, when displaced by the English, the French moved down south and found safety in southern Louisiana where they eventually became Cajuns. When they fled Acadia, they took their best-loved game, Hazard, along. The Cajuns broke down the game and made it mathematically fair. It’s believed that the Cajuns adjusted the title to craps, which is gotten from the term for the bad luck toss of snake-eyes in the game of Hazard, known as "crabs."
From Louisiana, the game extended to the Mississippi river boats and throughout the country. Many acknowledge the dice maker John H. Winn as the founder of modern craps. In the early 1900s, Winn built the modern craps setup. He added the Don’t Pass line so players can wager on the dice to lose. Afterwords, he created the spaces for Place wagers and added the Big 6, Big 8, and Hardways.
