Pickup Craps – Pointers and Schemes: The History of Craps
Be smart, play smart, and learn how to play craps the correct way!
Games that use dice and the dice themselves goes all the way back to the Middle Eastern Crusades, but current craps is just about a century old. Modern craps formed from the ancient Anglo game called Hazard. Nobody knows for certain the beginnings of the game, although Hazard is said to have been discovered by the Englishman, Sir William of Tyre, in the twelfth century. It’s believed that Sir William’s knights wagered on Hazard through a siege on the fortification Hazarth in 1125 AD. The title Hazard was acquired from the castle’s name.
Early French colonizers brought the game Hazard to Acadia. In the 18th century, when expelled by the British, the French headed down south and settled in the south of Louisiana where they a while later became known as Cajuns. When they were driven out of Acadia, they took their favorite game, Hazard, with them. The Cajuns streamlined the game and made it fair mathematically. It is said that the Cajuns altered the title to craps, which is acquired from the term for the non-winning toss of 2 in the game of Hazard, recognized as "crabs."
From Louisiana, the game extended to the Mississippi barges and all over the nation. A great many acknowledge the dice builder John H. Winn as the creator of current craps. In the early 1900s, Winn created the modern craps setup. He put in place the Do not Pass line so players could bet on the dice to lose. Afterwords, he designed the spaces for Place wagers and added the Big 6, Big 8, and Hardways.