Be clever, play smart, and learn how to play craps the right way!
Games that use dice and the dice themselves goes all the way back to the Middle Eastern Crusades, but modern craps is approximately 100 years old. Current craps come about from the ancient English game referred to as Hazard. No one absolutely knows the origin of the game, but Hazard is said to have been invented by the Anglo, Sir William of Tyre, sometime in the twelfth century. It’s theorized that Sir William’s horsemen gambled on Hazard through a blockade on the castle Hazarth in 1125 AD. The title Hazard was derived from the citadel’s name.
Early French colonizers imported the game Hazard to Nova Scotia. In the 1700s, when exiled by the British, the French relocated down south and settled in southern Louisiana where they at a later time became known as Cajuns. When they were driven out of Acadia, they brought their best-loved game, Hazard, with them. The Cajuns streamlined the game and made it fair mathematically. It is believed that the Cajuns altered the title to craps, which is acquired 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 river boats and all over the nation. A few consider the dice maker John H. Winn as the father of modern craps. In the early 1900s, Winn built the current craps layout. He added the Do not Pass line so gamblers could wager on the dice to not win. Later, he established the spots for Place wagers and added the Big 6, Big 8, and Hardways.
