Learn to Play Craps – Pointers and Plans: The History of Craps
Be cunning, play cunning, and learn how to play craps the right way!
Games that use dice and the dice themselves date back to the Crusades, but current craps is approximately a century old. Modern craps come about from the 12th Century English game called Hazard. Nobody knows for sure the birth of the game, but Hazard is believed to have been discovered by the Englishman, Sir William of Tyre, around the 12th century. It’s supposed that Sir William’s knights enjoyed Hazard amid a blockade on the fortification Hazarth in 1125 AD. The title Hazard was acquired from the citadel’s name.
Early French colonists brought the game Hazard to Nova Scotia. In the 18th century, when driven away by the English, the French moved south and found sanctuary in the south of Louisiana where they a while later became Cajuns. When they were driven out of Acadia, they brought their best-loved game, Hazard, along. The Cajuns streamlined the game and made it mathematically fair. It is believed that the Cajuns changed the name to craps, which is gotten from the term for the bad luck throw of snake-eyes in the game of Hazard, known as "crabs."
From Louisiana, the game moved to the Mississippi scows and across the country. Most consider the dice maker John H. Winn as the father of current craps. In the early 1900s, Winn created the modern craps setup. He appended the Do not Pass line so players can bet on the dice to not win. Later, he developed the spots for Place wagers and put in place the Big 6, Big 8, and Hardways.
You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
