Become Versed in Craps – Hints and Schemes: The Past of Craps
Be smart, play cunning, and discover how to play craps the proper way!
Games that use dice and the dice themselves date all the way back to the Crusades, but current craps is approximately 100 years old. Modern craps developed from the old Anglo game called Hazard. Nobody absolutely knows the birth of the game, although Hazard is said to have been discovered by the Anglo, Sir William of Tyre, sometime in the twelfth century. It’s presumed that Sir William’s knights wagered on Hazard through a siege on the fortification Hazarth in 1125 AD. The title Hazard was derived from the citadel’s name.
Early French settlers brought the game Hazard to Nova Scotia. In the 1700s, when expelled by the English, the French headed down south and settled in the south of Louisiana where they eventually became known as Cajuns. When they departed Acadia, they brought their favorite game, Hazard, with them. The Cajuns modernized the game and made it fair mathematically. It’s believed that the Cajuns changed the name to craps, which is acquired from the term for the losing toss of snake-eyes in the game of Hazard, referred to as "crabs."
From Louisiana, the game extended to the Mississippi scows and across the country. A good many consider the dice builder John H. Winn as the founder of current craps. In the early 1900s, Winn built the modern craps setup. He appended the Do not Pass line so gamblers could bet on the dice to lose. Later, he developed the boxes for Place wagers and added the Big 6, Big 8, and Hardways.