Be cunning, play brilliant, and become versed in craps the right way!
Dice and dice games date all the way back to the Crusades, but current craps is approximately a century old. Modern craps evolved from the 12th Century English game referred to as Hazard. Nobody knows for sure the birth of the game, although Hazard is believed to have been discovered by the Anglo, Sir William of Tyre, around the twelfth century. It’s believed that Sir William’s knights bet on Hazard during a siege on the citadel Hazarth in 1125 AD. The name Hazard was derived from the citadel’s name.
Early French settlers brought the game Hazard to Canada. In the 1700s, when expelled by the English, the French headed down south and settled in southern Louisiana where they eventually became known as Cajuns. When they departed Acadia, they took their preferred game, Hazard, along. The Cajuns streamlined the game and made it fair mathematically. It is believed that the Cajuns altered the title to craps, which was derived from the name of the bad luck toss of snake-eyes in the game of Hazard, recognized as "crabs."
From Louisiana, the game migrated to the Mississippi barges and all over the country. A great many consider the dice maker John H. Winn as the father of current craps. In 1907, Winn developed the current craps layout. He created the Don’t Pass line so players could wager on the dice to lose. At another time, he developed the boxes for Place wagers and added the Big 6, Big 8, and Hardways.