Be cunning, play smart, and become versed in craps the ideal way!
Dice and dice games date all the way back to the Middle Eastern Crusades, but current craps is just about a century old. Modern craps evolved from the old English game referred to as Hazard. No one knows for certain the birth of the game, but Hazard is believed 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 citadel Hazarth in 1125 AD. The title Hazard was derived from the citadel’s name.
Early French colonizers brought the game Hazard to Acadia. In the 1700s, when exiled by the English, the French headed south and settled in the south of Louisiana where they eventually became Cajuns. When they fled Acadia, they brought their favorite game, Hazard, along. The Cajuns modernized the game and made it fair mathematically. It is believed that the Cajuns changed the name to craps, which was derived from the name of the bad luck throw of snake-eyes in the game of Hazard, known as "crabs."
From Louisiana, the game migrated to the Mississippi riverboats and throughout the country. A good many acknowledge the dice builder John H. Winn as the father of current craps. In 1907, Winn developed the current craps setup. He put in place the Do not Pass line so gamblers could bet on the dice to lose. Later, he established the boxes for Place bets and added the Big 6, Big 8, and Hardways.
