Master Craps – Tricks and Strategies: The Background of Craps
Be clever, play brilliant, and discover how to play craps the proper way!
Dice and dice games date all the way back to the Crusades, but current craps is only about a century old. Modern craps evolved from the 12th Century English game called Hazard. No one knows for certain the birth of the game, however Hazard is said to have been created by the Englishman, Sir William of Tyre, around the 12th century. It is presumed that Sir William’s paladins gambled on Hazard through a blockade on the fortification Hazarth in 1125 AD. The title Hazard was acquired from the citadel’s name.
Early French settlers imported the game Hazard to Canada. In the 1700s, when displaced by the English, the French relocated south and discovered refuge in the south of Louisiana where they a while later became Cajuns. When they fled Acadia, they brought their favorite game, Hazard, along. The Cajuns streamlined the game and made it mathematically fair. It’s said that the Cajuns adjusted the name to craps, which was derived from the term for the losing toss of two in the game of Hazard, known as "crabs."
From Louisiana, the game moved to the Mississippi riverboats and throughout the nation. Many consider the dice builder John H. Winn as the creator of modern craps. In the early 1900s, Winn assembled the modern craps layout. He put in place the Don’t Pass line so gamblers can wager on the dice to not win. At another time, he established the spaces for Place wagers and added the Big 6, Big 8, and Hardways.