Be clever, play clever, and pickup craps the proper way!
Dice and dice games goes all the way back to the Middle Eastern Crusades, but current craps is just about a century old. Modern craps developed from the 12th Century English game called Hazard. No one knows for certain the ancestry of the game, however Hazard is said to have been created by the Englishman, Sir William of Tyre, in the 12th century. It’s supposed that Sir William’s paladins enjoyed Hazard amid a blockade on the fortification Hazarth in 1125 AD. The title Hazard was derived from the fortification’s name.
Early French settlers brought the game Hazard to Nova Scotia. In the 1700s, when exiled by the English, the French moved south and settled in the south of Louisiana where they a while later became known as Cajuns. When they departed Acadia, they brought their preferred game, Hazard, with them. The Cajuns simplified the game and made it mathematically fair. It is believed that the Cajuns adjusted the title to craps, which was acquired from the name of the losing toss of two in the game of Hazard, known as "crabs."
From Louisiana, the game extended to the Mississippi barges and throughout the nation. A few consider the dice builder John H. Winn as the founder of modern craps. In 1907, Winn built the current craps setup. He put in place the Don’t Pass line so players could bet on the dice to not win. Afterwords, he invented the spaces for Place bets and put in place the Big 6, Big 8, and Hardways.
