Learn to Play Craps – Tricks and Plans: The History of Craps
Be cunning, play brilliant, and learn how to play craps the correct way!
Dice and dice games date all the way back to the Crusades, but current craps is only about one hundred years old. Modern craps come about from the ancient English game called Hazard. Nobody knows for certain the birth of the game, however Hazard is believed to have been made up by the Anglo, Sir William of Tyre, around the twelfth century. It’s supposed that Sir William’s paladins bet on Hazard during a blockade on the fortress Hazarth in 1125 AD. The name Hazard was acquired from the castle’s name.
Early French settlers brought the game Hazard to Nova Scotia. In the 18th century, when banished by the British, the French relocated south and located refuge in the south of Louisiana where they a while later became known as Cajuns. When they left Acadia, they took their best-loved game, Hazard, with them. The Cajuns streamlined the game and made it mathematically fair. It is believed that the Cajuns changed the name to craps, which was derived from the term for the losing throw of 2 in the game of Hazard, referred to as "crabs."
From Louisiana, the game migrated to the Mississippi scows and throughout the country. Many consider the dice builder John H. Winn as the father of current craps. In the early 1900s, Winn created the current craps layout. He put in place the Don’t Pass line so players could wager on the dice to lose. Afterwords, he created the spaces for Place bets and added the Big 6, Big 8, and Hardways.