Be a Master of Craps – Tricks and Tactics: The History of Craps
Be smart, play cunning, and discover how to play craps the correct way!
Dice and dice games goes all the way back to the Middle Eastern Crusades, but current craps is approximately one hundred years old. Modern craps formed from the old English game called Hazard. No one absolutely knows the birth of the game, however Hazard is believed to have been invented by the Englishman, Sir William of Tyre, sometime in the twelfth century. It’s presumed that Sir William’s soldiers gambled on Hazard during a blockade on the fortress Hazarth in 1125 AD. The name Hazard was acquired from the citadel’s name.
Early French colonists imported the game Hazard to Nova Scotia. In the 1700s, when exiled by the English, the French relocated down south and discovered safety in southern Louisiana where they a while later became known as Cajuns. When they fled Acadia, they brought their preferred game, Hazard, along. The Cajuns broke down the game and made it more mathematically fair. It’s said that the Cajuns altered the name to craps, which was acquired from the name of the bad luck throw of snake-eyes in the game of Hazard, referred to as "crabs."
From Louisiana, the game moved to the Mississippi scows and throughout the country. Many acknowledge the dice maker John H. Winn as the founder of current craps. In 1907, Winn developed the modern craps layout. He added the Do not Pass line so players could wager on the dice to not win. Afterwords, he designed the spots for Place bets and added the Big 6, Big 8, and Hardways.