Be smart, play brilliant, and learn how to play craps the right way!
Dice and dice games date back to the Crusades, but current craps is approximately one hundred years old. Current craps come about from the old Anglo game called Hazard. Nobody knows for sure the beginnings of the game, however Hazard is believed to have been made up by the Englishman, Sir William of Tyre, in the twelfth century. It is believed that Sir William’s knights wagered on Hazard through a siege on the castle Hazarth in 1125 AD. The name Hazard was derived from the castle’s name.
Early French settlers imported the game Hazard to Acadia. In the 1700s, when displaced by the British, the French headed down south and located safety in southern Louisiana where they at a later time became Cajuns. When they departed Acadia, they brought their favored game, Hazard, with them. The Cajuns modernized the game and made it mathematically fair. It’s believed that the Cajuns changed the name to craps, which was gotten from the name of the non-winning throw of two in the game of Hazard, known as "crabs."
From Louisiana, the game moved to the Mississippi barges and all over the country. Many think the dice builder John H. Winn as the founder of modern craps. In 1907, Winn developed the modern craps setup. He appended the Do not Pass line so gamblers can wager on the dice to not win. Afterwords, he developed the spaces for Place bets and added the Big 6, Big 8, and Hardways.
