Be clever, play cunning, and master craps the right way!
Dice and dice games goes all the way back to the Middle Eastern Crusades, but modern craps is only about a century old. Current craps evolved from the old Anglo game referred to as Hazard. No one absolutely knows the ancestry of the game, but Hazard is believed to have been created by the Englishman, Sir William of Tyre, around the 12th century. It’s presumed that Sir William’s horsemen enjoyed Hazard amid a siege on the castle Hazarth in 1125 AD. The title Hazard was derived from the fortification’s name.
Early French colonists imported the game Hazard to Nova Scotia. In the 18th century, when driven away by the British, the French headed south and settled in the south of Louisiana where they a while later became Cajuns. When they fled Acadia, they took their preferred game, Hazard, with them. The Cajuns broke down the game and made it mathematically fair. It is believed that the Cajuns changed the title to craps, which is derived from the term for the bad luck throw of 2 in the game of Hazard, known as "crabs."
From Louisiana, the game migrated to the Mississippi barges and throughout the country. A good many consider the dice maker John H. Winn as the founder of current craps. In 1907, Winn assembled the current craps layout. He created the Do not Pass line so players could bet on the dice to lose. Later, he designed the spots for Place bets and added the Big 6, Big 8, and Hardways.