Be brilliant, play cunning, and become versed in craps the correct way!
Games that use dice and the dice themselves goes back to the Crusades, but current craps is approximately a century old. Modern craps formed from the old Anglo game called Hazard. Nobody absolutely knows the beginnings of the game, but Hazard is believed to have been invented by the Englishman, Sir William of Tyre, in the 12th century. It is supposed that Sir William’s soldiers played Hazard during a blockade on the fortification Hazarth in 1125 AD. The title Hazard was derived from the fortress’s name.
Early French settlers brought the game Hazard to Canada. In the 1700s, when displaced by the English, the French headed down south and located sanctuary in the south of Louisiana where they at a later time became Cajuns. When they departed Acadia, they brought their favorite game, Hazard, along. The Cajuns simplified the game and made it more mathematically fair. It is believed that the Cajuns changed the title to craps, which is derived from the name of the bad luck toss of snake-eyes in the game of Hazard, referred to as "crabs."
From Louisiana, the game moved to the Mississippi scows and all over the country. A few consider the dice builder John H. Winn as the father of current craps. In 1907, Winn built the current craps layout. He appended the Don’t Pass line so players could bet on the dice to lose. Afterwords, he created the spots for Place wagers and added the Big 6, Big 8, and Hardways.