Master Craps – Pointers and Plans: The Past of Craps
Be smart, play brilliant, and master craps the proper way!
Games that use dice and the dice themselves date back to the Crusades, but modern craps is only about 100 years old. Current craps come about from the old English game referred to as Hazard. Nobody knows for sure the ancestry of the game, however Hazard is said to have been invented by the Englishman, Sir William of Tyre, sometime in the twelfth century. It’s theorized that Sir William’s horsemen played Hazard through a siege on the fortification Hazarth in 1125 AD. The name Hazard was acquired from the citadel’s name.
Early French settlers imported the game Hazard to Acadia. In the 18th century, when driven away by the English, the French relocated south and settled in southern Louisiana where they at a later time became Cajuns. When they departed Acadia, they brought their best-loved game, Hazard, along. The Cajuns modernized the game and made it more mathematically fair. It’s believed that the Cajuns adjusted the name to craps, which is acquired from the term for the losing throw of two in the game of Hazard, known as "crabs."
From Louisiana, the game migrated to the Mississippi riverboats and throughout the country. A few acknowledge the dice maker John H. Winn as the founder of modern craps. In 1907, Winn designed the current craps layout. He put in place the Do not Pass line so players could bet on the dice to not win. Afterwords, he developed the spaces for Place wagers and put in place the Big 6, Big 8, and Hardways.