Become Versed in Craps – Pointers and Plans: The History of Craps
Be cunning, play clever, and master craps the proper way!
Dice and dice games date all the way back to the Middle Eastern Crusades, but modern craps is approximately a century old. Modern craps come about from the ancient English game referred to as Hazard. No one absolutely knows the beginnings of the game, however Hazard is said to have been made up by the Englishman, Sir William of Tyre, sometime in the twelfth century. It’s theorized that Sir William’s paladins played Hazard through a blockade on the castle Hazarth in 1125 AD. The name Hazard was gotten from the fortress’s name.
Early French colonists imported the game Hazard to Canada. In the 18th century, when driven away by the English, the French moved south and found sanctuary in the south of Louisiana where they eventually became known as Cajuns. When they fled Acadia, they brought their favorite game, Hazard, along. The Cajuns broke down the game and made it fair mathematically. It is believed that the Cajuns adjusted the name to craps, which is acquired from the name of the bad luck toss of two in the game of Hazard, recognized as "crabs."
From Louisiana, the game moved to the Mississippi barges and across the country. A few consider the dice builder John H. Winn as the father of modern craps. In 1907, Winn created the modern craps layout. He created the Do not Pass line so gamblers could wager on the dice to lose. At another time, he designed the spaces for Place bets and put in place the Big 6, Big 8, and Hardways.