Be brilliant, play smart, and become versed in craps the proper way!
Dice and dice games goes all the way back to the Crusades, but current craps is only about one hundred years old. Modern craps evolved from the old Anglo game called Hazard. Nobody knows for sure the beginnings of the game, but Hazard is said to have been invented by the Englishman, Sir William of Tyre, sometime in the twelfth century. It’s theorized that Sir William’s knights bet on Hazard amid a siege on the castle Hazarth in 1125 AD. The title Hazard was derived from the castle’s name.
Early French colonists brought the game Hazard to Nova Scotia. In the 1700s, when displaced by the English, the French headed down south and discovered sanctuary in the south of Louisiana where they eventually became known as Cajuns. When they were driven out of Acadia, they brought their favorite game, Hazard, along. The Cajuns simplified the game and made it fair mathematically. It’s said that the Cajuns changed the name to craps, which was acquired from the name of the losing toss of snake-eyes in the game of Hazard, known as "crabs."
From Louisiana, the game moved to the Mississippi river boats and across the country. Many think the dice builder John H. Winn as the father of current craps. In 1907, Winn assembled the modern craps setup. He created the Do not Pass line so players can wager on the dice to lose. At another time, he invented the boxes for Place bets and added the Big 6, Big 8, and Hardways.
