Master Craps – Hints and Techniques: The Background of Craps
Be brilliant, play smart, and learn how to play craps the correct way!
Dice and dice games date all the way back to the Crusades, but current craps is approximately 100 years old. Current craps formed from the 12th Century English game called Hazard. Nobody absolutely knows the beginnings of the game, but Hazard is believed to have been made up by the Englishman, Sir William of Tyre, in the 12th century. It is presumed that Sir William’s knights enjoyed Hazard through a blockade on the fortification Hazarth in 1125 AD. The title Hazard was acquired from the fortress’s name.
Early French settlers brought the game Hazard to Canada. In the 1700s, when banished by the British, the French relocated south and found safety in the south of Louisiana where they a while later became known as Cajuns. When they departed Acadia, they took their best-loved game, Hazard, along. The Cajuns streamlined the game and made it mathematically fair. It’s believed that the Cajuns changed the title to craps, which was acquired from the name of the bad luck toss of 2 in the game of Hazard, referred to as "crabs."
From Louisiana, the game moved to the Mississippi scows and across 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 added the Don’t Pass line so gamblers could wager on the dice to not win. Later, he developed the boxes for Place wagers and put in place the Big 6, Big 8, and Hardways.