Pickup Craps – Tips and Plans: The Background of Craps

Be clever, play clever, and discover how to play craps the proper way!

Dice and dice games goes back to the Middle Eastern Crusades, but modern craps is approximately one hundred years old. Modern craps formed from the 12th Century English game called Hazard. No one absolutely knows the origin of the game, although Hazard is said to have been made up by the Anglo, Sir William of Tyre, in the twelfth century. It’s theorized that Sir William’s paladins played Hazard through a blockade on the citadel Hazarth in 1125 AD. The title Hazard was gotten from the fortification’s name.

Early French colonists imported the game Hazard to Canada. In the 1700s, when driven away by the British, the French headed down south and located refuge in the south of Louisiana where they a while later became Cajuns. When they left Acadia, they brought their preferred game, Hazard, along. The Cajuns simplified the game and made it mathematically fair. It is believed that the Cajuns altered the title to craps, which is gotten from the term for the bad luck toss of 2 in the game of Hazard, known as "crabs."

From Louisiana, the game migrated to the Mississippi river boats and across the country. Most acknowledge the dice builder John H. Winn as the creator of current craps. In 1907, Winn built the modern craps layout. He created the Don’t Pass line so players could wager on the dice to lose. Later, he created the boxes for Place bets and put in place the Big 6, Big 8, and Hardways.