Learn to Play Craps – Tips and Techniques: The History of Craps
Be brilliant, play clever, and pickup craps the ideal way!
Dice and dice games goes back to the Crusades, but current craps is approximately one hundred years old. Modern craps evolved from the ancient English game called Hazard. Nobody absolutely knows the ancestry of the game, but Hazard is believed to have been discovered by the Anglo, Sir William of Tyre, in the 12th century. It is presumed that Sir William’s knights wagered on Hazard through a siege on the fortification Hazarth in 1125 AD. The title Hazard was derived from the citadel’s name.
Early French colonizers brought the game Hazard to Acadia. In the 1700s, when driven away by the English, the French relocated south and settled in southern Louisiana where they eventually became Cajuns. When they were driven out of Acadia, they brought their favored game, Hazard, along. The Cajuns streamlined the game and made it more mathematically fair. It’s said that the Cajuns adjusted the title to craps, which was acquired from the term for the bad luck toss of snake-eyes in the game of Hazard, known as "crabs."
From Louisiana, the game moved to the Mississippi riverboats and all over the country. A great many think the dice builder John H. Winn as the founder of current craps. In the early 1900s, Winn developed the current craps layout. He appended the Do not Pass line so players could wager on the dice to lose. Later, he invented the spots for Place wagers and added the Big 6, Big 8, and Hardways.