Become Versed in Craps – Tips and Tactics: The History of Craps
Be smart, play smart, and pickup craps the proper way!
Games that use dice and the dice themselves date all the way back to the Crusades, but modern craps is just about a century old. Modern craps come about from the 12th Century Anglo game called Hazard. Nobody knows for sure the birth of the game, but Hazard is believed to have been invented by the Englishman, Sir William of Tyre, in the twelfth century. It’s believed that Sir William’s horsemen wagered on Hazard during a siege on the fortress Hazarth in 1125 AD. The name Hazard was acquired from the castle’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 safety in the south of Louisiana where they a while later became known as Cajuns. When they left Acadia, they took their favored game, Hazard, along. The Cajuns broke down the game and made it mathematically fair. It’s believed that the Cajuns adjusted the name to craps, which is gotten from the term for the losing toss of two in the game of Hazard, referred to as "crabs."
From Louisiana, the game moved to the Mississippi riverboats and throughout the nation. Most acknowledge the dice maker John H. Winn as the father of current craps. In 1907, Winn built the modern craps setup. He put in place the Do not Pass line so players can bet on the dice to lose. Afterwords, he created the spaces for Place bets and put in place the Big 6, Big 8, and Hardways.