Master Craps – Hints and Tactics: The History of Craps
Be smart, play smart, and master craps the ideal way!
Dice and dice games date all the way back to the Crusades, but current craps is just about 100 years old. Current craps developed from the ancient English game referred to as Hazard. Nobody knows for sure the birth of the game, however Hazard is said to have been discovered by the Anglo, Sir William of Tyre, around the 12th century. It is presumed that Sir William’s soldiers played Hazard through a blockade on the fortress Hazarth in 1125 AD. The title Hazard was gotten from the castle’s name.
Early French colonizers imported the game Hazard to Acadia. In the 18th century, when displaced by the British, the French headed south and settled in the south of Louisiana where they eventually became Cajuns. When they were driven out of Acadia, they took their preferred game, Hazard, with them. The Cajuns broke down the game and made it fair mathematically. It’s said that the Cajuns changed 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 migrated to the Mississippi river boats and across the country. Most think the dice builder John H. Winn as the father of current craps. In the early 1900s, Winn designed the current craps layout. He appended the Don’t Pass line so players could wager on the dice to lose. Afterwords, he designed the spots for Place wagers and put in place the Big 6, Big 8, and Hardways.