Be a Master of Craps – Pointers and Tactics: The Past of Craps
Be clever, play smart, and become versed in craps the correct way!
Games that use dice and the dice themselves goes all the way back to the Crusades, but modern craps is only about one hundred years old. Modern craps come about from the 12th Century Anglo game referred to as Hazard. No one knows for certain the origin of the game, although Hazard is believed to have been created by the Englishman, Sir William of Tyre, sometime in the twelfth century. It is believed that Sir William’s knights wagered on Hazard amid a siege on the fortress Hazarth in 1125 AD. The name Hazard was acquired from the fortification’s name.
Early French settlers brought the game Hazard to Acadia. In the 1700s, when exiled by the English, the French headed south and settled in southern Louisiana where they eventually became known as Cajuns. When they left Acadia, they took their best-loved game, Hazard, with them. The Cajuns broke down the game and made it more mathematically fair. It’s said that the Cajuns changed the title to craps, which is gotten from the term for the bad luck throw of snake-eyes in the game of Hazard, recognized as "crabs."
From Louisiana, the game extended to the Mississippi scows and throughout the country. A good many think the dice builder John H. Winn as the founder of current craps. In the early 1900s, Winn developed the modern craps layout. He added the Do not Pass line so gamblers could bet on the dice to not win. Afterwords, he developed the spots for Place wagers and put in place the Big 6, Big 8, and Hardways.