Become Versed in Craps – Tricks and Techniques: The Past of Craps
Be cunning, play clever, and master craps the proper way!
Dice and dice games date back to the Crusades, but modern craps is only about a century old. Modern craps formed from the old Anglo game referred to as Hazard. Nobody knows for certain the beginnings of the game, although Hazard is believed to have been made up by the Englishman, Sir William of Tyre, sometime in the twelfth century. It’s presumed that Sir William’s knights played Hazard through a blockade on the fortress Hazarth in 1125 AD. The title Hazard was derived from the fortress’s name.
Early French colonists brought the game Hazard to Acadia. In the 1700s, when exiled by the British, the French relocated south and found sanctuary in the south of Louisiana where they at a later time became known as Cajuns. When they were driven out of Acadia, they brought their favorite game, Hazard, along. The Cajuns modernized the game and made it fair mathematically. It’s said that the Cajuns altered the title to craps, which was gotten from the term for the non-winning toss of snake-eyes in the game of Hazard, referred to as "crabs."
From Louisiana, the game migrated to the Mississippi riverboats and throughout the country. Most think the dice builder John H. Winn as the father of modern craps. In the early 1900s, Winn created the modern craps setup. He added the Do not Pass line so players could bet on the dice to lose. Afterwords, he developed the boxes for Place wagers and added the Big 6, Big 8, and Hardways.
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