Be clever, play smart, and become versed in craps the proper way!
Dice and dice games goes all the way back to the Middle Eastern Crusades, but modern craps is just about a century old. Modern craps evolved from the old Anglo game referred to as Hazard. No one knows for certain the origin of the game, although Hazard is said to have been created by the Englishman, Sir William of Tyre, sometime in the twelfth century. It is believed that Sir William’s knights wagered on Hazard amid a siege on the castle Hazarth in 1125 AD. The title Hazard was derived from the castle’s name.
Early French settlers brought the game Hazard to Nova Scotia. In the 18th century, when displaced by the English, the French headed south and settled in the south of Louisiana where they eventually became Cajuns. When they departed Acadia, they brought their favorite game, Hazard, along. The Cajuns streamlined the game and made it fair mathematically. It’s believed that the Cajuns changed the title to craps, which is derived from the term for the losing throw of 2 in the game of Hazard, known as "crabs."
From Louisiana, the game moved to the Mississippi scows and throughout the country. A few acknowledge the dice maker John H. Winn as the father of modern craps. In 1907, Winn developed the current craps layout. He put in place the Don’t Pass line so gamblers could wager on the dice to not win. Afterwords, he created the spaces for Place bets and added the Big 6, Big 8, and Hardways.