Pickup Craps – Tricks and Techniques: The History of Craps
Be clever, play smart, and learn how to play craps the right way!
Games that use dice and the dice themselves goes all the way back to the Crusades, but current craps is only about a century old. Current craps evolved from the ancient Anglo game called Hazard. No one absolutely knows the origin of the game, however Hazard is said to have been made up by the Anglo, Sir William of Tyre, around the 12th century. It is theorized that Sir William’s horsemen bet on Hazard amid a siege on the fortification Hazarth in 1125 AD. The title Hazard was gotten from the fortress’s name.
Early French settlers brought the game Hazard to Canada. In the 1700s, when expelled by the English, the French relocated down south and discovered sanctuary in the south of Louisiana where they at a later time became Cajuns. When they departed Acadia, they took their favored game, Hazard, along. The Cajuns modernized the game and made it more mathematically fair. It’s said that the Cajuns altered the title to craps, which was gotten from the term for the losing toss of 2 in the game of Hazard, known as "crabs."
From Louisiana, the game moved to the Mississippi river boats and all over the nation. A great many think the dice maker John H. Winn as the founder of current craps. In 1907, Winn developed the current craps layout. He created the Do not Pass line so gamblers can bet on the dice to lose. Later, he created the boxes for Place bets and added the Big 6, Big 8, and Hardways.