Learn to Play Craps – Pointers and Plans: The Past of Craps
Be cunning, play cunning, and master craps the proper way!
Dice and dice games date all the way back to the Crusades, but current craps is approximately a century old. Modern craps developed from the 12th Century English game called Hazard. No one knows for certain the birth of the game, however Hazard is believed to have been discovered by the Anglo, Sir William of Tyre, around the 12th century. It is believed that Sir William’s soldiers bet on Hazard during a blockade on the fortress Hazarth in 1125 AD. The name Hazard was gotten from the fortification’s name.
Early French colonists imported the game Hazard to Canada. In the 1700s, when exiled by the English, the French headed south and found sanctuary in the south of Louisiana where they eventually became known as Cajuns. When they were driven out of Acadia, they brought their favorite game, Hazard, with them. The Cajuns broke down the game and made it fair mathematically. It’s believed that the Cajuns adjusted the name to craps, which was acquired from the name of the losing throw of two in the game of Hazard, recognized as "crabs."
From Louisiana, the game migrated to the Mississippi scows and across the nation. A great many think the dice builder John H. Winn as the founder of modern craps. In the early 1900s, Winn designed the current craps setup. He appended the Do not Pass line so gamblers could wager on the dice to lose. Afterwords, he established the boxes for Place wagers and added the Big 6, Big 8, and Hardways.