Learn to Play Craps – Hints and Schemes: The Past of Craps
Be cunning, play clever, and master craps the right way!
Games that use dice and the dice themselves date all the way back to the Middle Eastern Crusades, but current craps is only about 100 years old. Modern craps evolved from the old Anglo game referred to as Hazard. Nobody knows for certain the birth of the game, however Hazard is believed to have been created by the Anglo, Sir William of Tyre, in the twelfth century. It’s supposed that Sir William’s horsemen gambled on Hazard through a blockade on the castle Hazarth in 1125 AD. The name Hazard was derived from the castle’s name.
Early French colonists imported the game Hazard to Nova Scotia. In the 1700s, when driven away by the English, the French headed south and discovered sanctuary in the south of Louisiana where they a while later became Cajuns. When they fled Acadia, they took their preferred game, Hazard, along. The Cajuns simplified the game and made it fair mathematically. It is believed that the Cajuns adjusted the name to craps, which was acquired from the term for the losing throw of two in the game of Hazard, recognized as "crabs."
From Louisiana, the game migrated to the Mississippi river boats and across the country. A great many think the dice maker John H. Winn as the creator of modern craps. In the early 1900s, Winn designed the modern craps setup. He added the Do not Pass line so players could wager on the dice to lose. Later, he created the spots for Place wagers and put in place the Big 6, Big 8, and Hardways.