Master Craps – Hints and Plans: The Past of Craps
Be cunning, play smart, and discover how to play craps the proper way!
Games that use dice and the dice themselves goes back to the Crusades, but current craps is only about one hundred years old. Current craps developed from the old English game referred to as Hazard. No one knows for certain the ancestry of the game, however Hazard is believed to have been discovered by the Anglo, Sir William of Tyre, sometime in the 12th century. It’s presumed that Sir William’s paladins enjoyed Hazard amid a siege on the castle Hazarth in 1125 AD. The name Hazard was acquired from the castle’s name.
Early French settlers imported the game Hazard to Nova Scotia. In the 18th century, when exiled by the English, the French relocated down south and located refuge in southern Louisiana where they eventually became known as Cajuns. When they were driven out of Acadia, they took their favorite game, Hazard, along. The Cajuns streamlined the game and made it mathematically fair. It is said that the Cajuns changed the name to craps, which is gotten from the name of the losing toss of snake-eyes in the game of Hazard, recognized as "crabs."
From Louisiana, the game extended to the Mississippi river boats and across the nation. Most think the dice builder John H. Winn as the father of current craps. In the early 1900s, Winn built the modern craps layout. He added the Do not Pass line so gamblers could bet on the dice to lose. Later, he invented the boxes for Place wagers and put in place the Big 6, Big 8, and Hardways.