Master Craps – Tips and Strategies: The History of Craps
Be clever, play clever, and become versed in craps the ideal way!
Dice and dice games goes back to the Middle Eastern Crusades, but modern craps is approximately a century old. Modern craps come about from the old English game referred to as Hazard. Nobody absolutely knows the birth of the game, but Hazard is said to have been created by the Anglo, Sir William of Tyre, in the 12th century. It is theorized that Sir William’s soldiers bet on Hazard during a siege on the fortification Hazarth in 1125 AD. The title Hazard was derived from the fortress’s name.
Early French colonizers brought the game Hazard to Canada. In the 1700s, when displaced by the British, the French headed south and discovered sanctuary in the south of Louisiana where they a while later became known as Cajuns. When they fled Acadia, they took their favored game, Hazard, with them. The Cajuns modernized the game and made it fair mathematically. It’s said that the Cajuns changed the title to craps, which is derived from the term for the losing toss of two in the game of Hazard, known as "crabs."
From Louisiana, the game extended to the Mississippi barges and throughout the nation. A good many acknowledge the dice maker John H. Winn as the father of current craps. In the early 1900s, Winn developed the current craps layout. He added the Don’t Pass line so gamblers can bet on the dice to not win. At another time, he established the boxes for Place bets and put in place the Big 6, Big 8, and Hardways.