Master Craps – Tricks and Schemes: The Background of Craps
Be smart, play clever, and master craps the proper way!
Dice and dice games date all the way back to the Crusades, but modern craps is just about one hundred years old. Current craps developed from the ancient Anglo game referred to as Hazard. No one absolutely knows the origin of the game, although Hazard is said to have been invented by the Englishman, Sir William of Tyre, sometime in the twelfth century. It’s presumed that Sir William’s soldiers played Hazard through a blockade on the castle 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 1700s, when displaced by the English, the French relocated down south and settled in the south of Louisiana where they eventually became known as Cajuns. When they left Acadia, they took their favored game, Hazard, with them. The Cajuns simplified the game and made it more mathematically fair. It’s believed that the Cajuns adjusted the title to craps, which was derived from the term for the losing throw of snake-eyes in the game of Hazard, known as "crabs."
From Louisiana, the game extended to the Mississippi barges and all over the nation. A great many think the dice builder John H. Winn as the father of current craps. In the early 1900s, Winn designed the current craps setup. He created the Do not Pass line so gamblers can wager on the dice to lose. Afterwords, he developed the spots for Place wagers and added the Big 6, Big 8, and Hardways.