Become Versed in Craps – Tricks and Schemes: The Background of Craps
Be cunning, play smart, and pickup craps the right way!
Dice and dice games date all the way back to the Crusades, but current craps is only about 100 years old. Modern craps formed from the ancient Anglo game called Hazard. No one knows for certain the birth of the game, but Hazard is said to have been discovered by the Englishman, Sir William of Tyre, around the 12th century. It’s believed that Sir William’s knights gambled on Hazard amid a blockade on the fortification Hazarth in 1125 AD. The title Hazard was gotten from the citadel’s name.
Early French colonizers brought the game Hazard to Canada. In the 1700s, when exiled by the British, the French headed down south and discovered safety in the south of Louisiana where they at a later time became known as Cajuns. When they were driven out of Acadia, they took their best-loved game, Hazard, with them. The Cajuns broke down the game and made it more mathematically fair. It’s believed that the Cajuns changed the name to craps, which was gotten from the term for the non-winning toss of snake-eyes in the game of Hazard, known as "crabs."
From Louisiana, the game moved to the Mississippi scows and throughout the nation. A good many consider the dice maker John H. Winn as the creator of current craps. In the early 1900s, Winn developed the current craps setup. He created the Do not Pass line so gamblers can wager on the dice to lose. Later, he established the spots for Place bets and added the Big 6, Big 8, and Hardways.