Be cunning, play cunning, and become versed in craps the correct way!
Dice and dice games date all the way back to the Middle Eastern Crusades, but modern craps is only about one hundred years old. Modern craps evolved from the old Anglo game referred to as Hazard. No one knows for sure the beginnings of the game, but Hazard is said to have been created by the Englishman, Sir William of Tyre, in the twelfth century. It’s presumed that Sir William’s knights played Hazard through a blockade on the castle Hazarth in 1125 AD. The title Hazard was derived from the castle’s name.
Early French colonizers imported the game Hazard to Nova Scotia. In the 1700s, when driven away by the British, the French moved south and settled in the south of Louisiana where they a while later became Cajuns. When they fled Acadia, they brought their best-loved game, Hazard, along. The Cajuns simplified the game and made it more mathematically fair. It is said that the Cajuns adjusted the title to craps, which is gotten from the term for the losing throw of snake-eyes in the game of Hazard, recognized as "crabs."
From Louisiana, the game extended to the Mississippi river boats and throughout the nation. Many consider the dice maker John H. Winn as the founder of modern craps. In 1907, Winn assembled the current craps setup. He created the Do not Pass line so players can wager on the dice to lose. Afterwords, he established the spots for Place wagers and put in place the Big 6, Big 8, and Hardways.