Master Craps – Tips and Plans: The Past of Craps
Be smart, play brilliant, and become versed in craps the right way!
Games that use dice and the dice themselves date back to the Crusades, but current craps is just about a century old. Current craps come about from the ancient English game called Hazard. Nobody absolutely knows the beginnings of the game, however Hazard is said to have been made up by the Anglo, Sir William of Tyre, sometime in the twelfth century. It’s believed that Sir William’s paladins bet on Hazard amid a blockade on the fortification Hazarth in 1125 AD. The title Hazard was derived from the fortress’s name.
Early French colonizers brought the game Hazard to Canada. In the 1700s, 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 fled Acadia, they brought their favored game, Hazard, with them. The Cajuns simplified the game and made it fair mathematically. It’s said that the Cajuns altered the name to craps, which was derived from the name of the non-winning throw of snake-eyes in the game of Hazard, referred to as "crabs."
From Louisiana, the game moved to the Mississippi barges and all over the nation. A few think the dice builder John H. Winn as the creator of current craps. In the early 1900s, Winn built the modern craps layout. He put in place the Do not Pass line so players can bet 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.