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Dice and dice games goes all the way back to the Crusades, but current craps is approximately a century old. Modern craps formed from the old English game called Hazard. No one absolutely knows the beginnings of the game, although Hazard is said to have been made up by the Englishman, Sir William of Tyre, in the 12th century. It is presumed that Sir William’s knights bet on Hazard through a siege on the fortification Hazarth in 1125 AD. The title Hazard was derived from the fortress’s name.
Early French colonizers imported the game Hazard to Acadia. In the 1700s, when displaced by the British, the French relocated south and discovered safety in southern Louisiana where they at a later time became known as Cajuns. When they departed Acadia, they took their favorite game, Hazard, along. The Cajuns broke down the game and made it more mathematically fair. It is said that the Cajuns changed the title to craps, which was acquired from the name of the losing throw of snake-eyes in the game of Hazard, recognized as "crabs."
From Louisiana, the game extended to the Mississippi riverboats and all over the nation. A few think the dice maker John H. Winn as the father of current craps. In the early 1900s, Winn developed the current craps layout. He appended the Do not Pass line so gamblers can bet on the dice to not win. Afterwords, he developed the spots for Place wagers and added the Big 6, Big 8, and Hardways.