Be cunning, play smart, and become versed in craps the right way!
Games that use dice and the dice themselves goes back to the Middle Eastern Crusades, but modern craps is approximately one hundred years old. Modern craps evolved from the 12th Century Anglo game referred to as Hazard. No one knows for certain the ancestry of the game, but Hazard is said to have been created by the Anglo, Sir William of Tyre, around the 12th century. It’s presumed that Sir William’s paladins gambled on Hazard amid a blockade on the fortress Hazarth in 1125 AD. The title Hazard was derived from the fortification’s name.
Early French settlers imported the game Hazard to Nova Scotia. In the 1700s, when banished by the English, the French relocated south and located safety in the south of Louisiana where they a while later became known as Cajuns. When they were driven out of Acadia, they brought their favorite game, Hazard, with them. The Cajuns broke down the game and made it fair mathematically. It is said that the Cajuns altered the title to craps, which is acquired from the term for the non-winning toss of snake-eyes in the game of Hazard, recognized as "crabs."
From Louisiana, the game moved to the Mississippi river boats and throughout the country. A few acknowledge the dice builder John H. Winn as the founder of current craps. In the early 1900s, Winn developed the current craps layout. He created the Do not Pass line so gamblers could bet on the dice to lose. Afterwords, he invented the boxes for Place bets and put in place the Big 6, Big 8, and Hardways.