Be cunning, play smart, and master craps the proper way!
Dice and dice games date all the way back to the Middle Eastern Crusades, but current craps is only about 100 years old. Current craps developed from the ancient Anglo game called Hazard. Nobody absolutely knows the birth of the game, but Hazard is believed to have been created by the Anglo, Sir William of Tyre, sometime in the 12th century. It’s supposed that Sir William’s soldiers enjoyed Hazard through a blockade on the fortress Hazarth in 1125 AD. The name Hazard was acquired from the fortress’s name.
Early French settlers brought the game Hazard to Canada. In the 1700s, when expelled by the English, the French moved south and settled in southern Louisiana where they a while later became Cajuns. When they were driven out of Acadia, they took their favored game, Hazard, with them. The Cajuns simplified the game and made it mathematically fair. It is said that the Cajuns altered the title to craps, which is derived from the term for the losing toss of two in the game of Hazard, referred to as "crabs."
From Louisiana, the game migrated to the Mississippi riverboats and throughout the country. A good many think the dice maker John H. Winn as the founder of modern craps. In the early 1900s, Winn assembled the current craps setup. He added the Don’t Pass line so gamblers could wager on the dice to lose. Later, he designed the spots for Place bets and added the Big 6, Big 8, and Hardways.
