Be smart, play cunning, and become versed in craps the ideal way!
Dice and dice games goes all the way back to the Middle Eastern Crusades, but current craps is only about one hundred years old. Current craps evolved from the 12th Century Anglo game referred to as Hazard. No one absolutely knows the birth of the game, but Hazard is said to have been created by the Englishman, Sir William of Tyre, around the twelfth century. It is theorized that Sir William’s horsemen wagered on Hazard amid a siege on the fortification Hazarth in 1125 AD. The name Hazard was derived from the fortification’s name.
Early French colonists brought the game Hazard to Canada. In the 1700s, when expelled by the English, the French headed down south and found sanctuary in the south of Louisiana where they eventually became Cajuns. When they were driven out of Acadia, they brought their best-loved game, Hazard, with them. The Cajuns streamlined the game and made it fair mathematically. It’s believed that the Cajuns changed the title to craps, which was derived from the term for the losing throw of snake-eyes in the game of Hazard, known as "crabs."
From Louisiana, the game extended to the Mississippi scows and across the nation. Many consider the dice maker John H. Winn as the creator of current craps. In the early 1900s, Winn designed the current craps layout. He created the Do not Pass line so players can bet on the dice to lose. Afterwords, he invented the spaces for Place bets and added the Big 6, Big 8, and Hardways.
