Pickup Craps – Tips and Schemes: The Background of Craps
Be clever, play cunning, and become versed in craps the proper way!
Games that use dice and the dice themselves goes back to the Middle Eastern Crusades, but modern craps is only about a century old. Modern craps developed from the ancient English game called Hazard. No one knows for certain the birth of the game, however Hazard is said to have been made up by the Englishman, Sir William of Tyre, in the twelfth century. It’s presumed that Sir William’s horsemen gambled on Hazard during a siege on the fortress Hazarth in 1125 AD. The name Hazard was derived from the citadel’s name.
Early French colonizers brought the game Hazard to Canada. In the 18th century, when driven away by the English, the French moved down south and settled in southern Louisiana where they at a later time became Cajuns. When they left Acadia, they took their preferred game, Hazard, along. The Cajuns modernized the game and made it more mathematically fair. It is believed that the Cajuns changed the title to craps, which was gotten from the term for the bad luck toss of snake-eyes in the game of Hazard, recognized as "crabs."
From Louisiana, the game extended to the Mississippi barges and throughout the country. A great many think the dice maker John H. Winn as the father of current craps. In 1907, Winn designed the modern craps layout. He put in place the Don’t Pass line so players can wager on the dice to not win. At another time, he established the spots for Place wagers and put in place the Big 6, Big 8, and Hardways.