Pickup Craps – Tips and Techniques: The History of Craps
Be clever, play brilliant, and become versed in craps the right way!
Games that use dice and the dice themselves date back to the Crusades, but modern craps is approximately 100 years old. Current craps formed from the ancient Anglo game called Hazard. Nobody knows for certain the ancestry of the game, although Hazard is believed to have been invented by the Anglo, Sir William of Tyre, sometime in the 12th century. It’s supposed that Sir William’s knights wagered on Hazard through a blockade on the fortification Hazarth in 1125 AD. The title Hazard was acquired from the fortification’s name.
Early French colonists brought the game Hazard to Canada. In the 18th century, when expelled by the British, the French relocated south and located safety in southern Louisiana where they at a later time became known as Cajuns. When they fled 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 altered the title to craps, which is derived from the term for the bad luck toss of 2 in the game of Hazard, recognized as "crabs."
From Louisiana, the game migrated to the Mississippi scows and all over the country. A few consider the dice maker John H. Winn as the father of modern craps. In 1907, Winn created the modern craps layout. He added the Do not Pass line so gamblers can bet on the dice to lose. Afterwords, he created the boxes for Place wagers and added the Big 6, Big 8, and Hardways.