Be smart, play clever, and pickup craps the correct way!
Games that use dice and the dice themselves date all the way back to the Middle Eastern Crusades, but current craps is approximately a century old. Current craps developed from the 12th Century Anglo game called Hazard. Nobody absolutely knows the origin of the game, although Hazard is believed to have been invented by the Englishman, Sir William of Tyre, in the 12th century. It’s believed that Sir William’s soldiers gambled on Hazard amid a blockade on the castle Hazarth in 1125 AD. The title Hazard was acquired from the fortress’s name.
Early French colonists brought the game Hazard to Canada. In the 18th century, when banished by the English, the French headed down south and found safety in southern Louisiana where they a while later became Cajuns. When they departed Acadia, they took their best-loved game, Hazard, along. The Cajuns modernized the game and made it fair mathematically. It’s believed that the Cajuns altered the name to craps, which is derived from the term for the losing toss of two in the game of Hazard, recognized as "crabs."
From Louisiana, the game migrated to the Mississippi riverboats and throughout the nation. Many acknowledge the dice builder John H. Winn as the father of current craps. In the early 1900s, Winn built the modern craps layout. He added the Do not Pass line so gamblers could bet on the dice to lose. At another time, he established the spots for Place bets and put in place the Big 6, Big 8, and Hardways.
