Be cunning, play clever, and master craps the right way!
Dice and dice games goes all the way back to the Middle Eastern Crusades, but current craps is just about a century old. Current craps formed from the 12th Century English game called Hazard. Nobody absolutely knows the ancestry of the game, but Hazard is said to have been made up by the Englishman, Sir William of Tyre, in the 12th century. It is theorized that Sir William’s paladins wagered on Hazard during a siege on the fortress Hazarth in 1125 AD. The name Hazard was gotten from the castle’s name.
Early French colonizers brought the game Hazard to Nova Scotia. In the 1700s, when expelled by the English, the French relocated south and settled in southern Louisiana where they at a later time became known as Cajuns. When they left Acadia, they took their favored game, Hazard, with them. The Cajuns simplified the game and made it fair mathematically. It is said that the Cajuns altered the name to craps, which was acquired from the term for the losing toss of 2 in the game of Hazard, recognized as "crabs."
From Louisiana, the game extended to the Mississippi riverboats and throughout the nation. Most think the dice maker John H. Winn as the father of modern craps. In the early 1900s, Winn created the modern craps layout. He put in place the Do not Pass line so players can bet on the dice to not win. At another time, he designed the boxes for Place bets and put in place the Big 6, Big 8, and Hardways.
