Be cunning, play clever, and discover how to play craps the correct way!
Games that use dice and the dice themselves goes all the way back to the Crusades, but current craps is just about 100 years old. Current craps developed from the 12th Century English game referred to as Hazard. Nobody knows for sure the ancestry of the game, however Hazard is said to have been created by the Englishman, Sir William of Tyre, in the twelfth century. It’s supposed that Sir William’s horsemen gambled on Hazard during a siege on the castle 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 18th century, when banished by the English, the French relocated south and settled 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 streamlined the game and made it more mathematically fair. It’s believed that the Cajuns changed the title to craps, which is acquired from the name of the bad luck toss of two in the game of Hazard, known as "crabs."
From Louisiana, the game migrated to the Mississippi barges and throughout the country. Most think the dice builder John H. Winn as the father of modern craps. In 1907, Winn created the modern craps layout. He appended the Don’t Pass line so players could bet on the dice to lose. Later, he developed the boxes for Place bets and added the Big 6, Big 8, and Hardways.
