Learn to Play Craps – Tips and Plans: The Background of Craps
Be smart, play cunning, and discover how to play craps the proper way!
Games that use dice and the dice themselves date all the way back to the Crusades, but modern craps is just about one hundred years old. Current craps formed from the 12th Century English game called Hazard. No one knows for certain the ancestry of the game, but Hazard is said to have been created by the Englishman, Sir William of Tyre, sometime in the twelfth century. It is believed that Sir William’s horsemen played Hazard amid a blockade on the citadel Hazarth in 1125 AD. The name Hazard was acquired from the fortification’s name.
Early French colonists brought the game Hazard to Canada. In the 18th century, when driven away by the British, the French relocated south and discovered sanctuary in southern Louisiana where they a while later became known as Cajuns. When they fled Acadia, they brought their favorite game, Hazard, along. The Cajuns modernized the game and made it more mathematically fair. It’s believed that the Cajuns changed the title to craps, which is derived from the name of the losing throw of snake-eyes in the game of Hazard, referred to as "crabs."
From Louisiana, the game moved to the Mississippi river boats and all over the nation. A good many think the dice builder John H. Winn as the founder of current craps. In 1907, Winn created the modern craps setup. He put in place the Do not Pass line so players can bet on the dice to lose. At another time, he established the spots for Place bets and added the Big 6, Big 8, and Hardways.