Be smart, play cunning, and master craps the proper way!
Games that use dice and the dice themselves goes back to the Middle Eastern Crusades, but current craps is approximately 100 years old. Current craps formed from the 12th Century English game called Hazard. No one absolutely knows the beginnings of the game, but Hazard is said to have been discovered by the Englishman, Sir William of Tyre, around the twelfth century. It is presumed that Sir William’s paladins bet on Hazard amid a blockade on the citadel Hazarth in 1125 AD. The name Hazard was derived from the fortification’s name.
Early French settlers imported the game Hazard to Nova Scotia. In the 1700s, when displaced by the British, the French moved down south and discovered safety in southern Louisiana where they eventually became Cajuns. When they departed Acadia, they brought their preferred game, Hazard, with them. The Cajuns broke down the game and made it mathematically fair. It’s said that the Cajuns adjusted the title to craps, which was derived from the name of the losing toss of snake-eyes in the game of Hazard, recognized as "crabs."
From Louisiana, the game moved to the Mississippi riverboats and all over the nation. Most think the dice builder John H. Winn as the father of modern craps. In 1907, Winn assembled the current craps setup. He added the Don’t Pass line so players can bet on the dice to lose. Afterwords, he created the boxes for Place bets and added the Big 6, Big 8, and Hardways.
