Master Craps – Tips and Plans: The Background of Craps
Be brilliant, play brilliant, and pickup craps the proper way!
Dice and dice games date back to the Middle Eastern Crusades, but current craps is just about one hundred years old. Current craps formed from the ancient Anglo game called Hazard. Nobody absolutely knows the beginnings of the game, however Hazard is believed to have been created by the Englishman, Sir William of Tyre, around the twelfth century. It’s theorized that Sir William’s soldiers bet on Hazard during a blockade on the castle Hazarth in 1125 AD. The title Hazard was derived from the castle’s name.
Early French settlers imported the game Hazard to Acadia. In the 1700s, when exiled by the English, the French relocated down south and settled in the south of Louisiana where they eventually became known as Cajuns. When they were driven out of Acadia, they brought their favorite game, Hazard, with them. The Cajuns modernized the game and made it more mathematically fair. It’s said that the Cajuns altered the name to craps, which was derived from the term for the bad luck toss of two in the game of Hazard, referred to as "crabs."
From Louisiana, the game extended to the Mississippi scows and across the nation. A great many consider the dice builder John H. Winn as the father of current craps. In the early 1900s, Winn created the modern craps layout. He created the Don’t Pass line so players could bet on the dice to not win. Later, he developed the spaces for Place bets and added the Big 6, Big 8, and Hardways.