Be cunning, play cunning, and master 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 developed from the ancient Anglo game called Hazard. No one knows for certain the ancestry of the game, however Hazard is said to have been invented by the Englishman, Sir William of Tyre, sometime in the twelfth century. It’s believed that Sir William’s knights wagered on Hazard through a siege on the fortress Hazarth in 1125 AD. The name Hazard was acquired from the citadel’s name.
Early French colonists brought the game Hazard to Nova Scotia. In the 18th century, when expelled by the English, the French relocated down south and located refuge in southern Louisiana where they at a later time became Cajuns. When they were driven out of 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 altered the title to craps, which was derived from the name of the losing toss of 2 in the game of Hazard, referred to as "crabs."
From Louisiana, the game extended to the Mississippi barges and across the nation. A good many think the dice builder John H. Winn as the founder of modern craps. In the early 1900s, Winn assembled the modern craps layout. He created the Don’t Pass line so gamblers could bet on the dice to not win. Later, he established the boxes for Place bets and put in place the Big 6, Big 8, and Hardways.
