Become Versed in Craps – Tips and Tactics: The History of Craps
Be cunning, play clever, and master craps the proper way!
Games that use dice and the dice themselves goes back to the Middle Eastern Crusades, but current craps is just about 100 years old. Modern craps come about from the old English game called Hazard. Nobody absolutely knows the origin of the game, however Hazard is believed to have been discovered by the Anglo, Sir William of Tyre, in the twelfth century. It’s supposed that Sir William’s horsemen gambled on Hazard through a siege on the castle Hazarth in 1125 AD. The title Hazard was acquired from the fortress’s name.
Early French colonizers imported the game Hazard to Canada. In the 1700s, when banished by the English, the French headed down south and settled in southern Louisiana where they eventually became Cajuns. When they departed Acadia, they took their favored game, Hazard, with them. The Cajuns streamlined the game and made it mathematically fair. It is said that the Cajuns changed the name to craps, which was acquired from the name of the bad luck throw of 2 in the game of Hazard, recognized as "crabs."
From Louisiana, the game migrated to the Mississippi scows and across the country. Most consider the dice builder John H. Winn as the father of modern craps. In 1907, Winn designed the current craps layout. He created the Don’t Pass line so players could wager on the dice to lose. At another time, he created the spots for Place bets and added the Big 6, Big 8, and Hardways.