Learn to Play Craps – Pointers and Schemes: The Background of Craps
Be cunning, play cunning, and learn how to play craps the proper way!
Dice and dice games date back to the Middle Eastern Crusades, but modern craps is approximately a century old. Modern craps come about from the old English game called Hazard. Nobody absolutely knows the ancestry of the game, but Hazard is said to have been invented by the Englishman, Sir William of Tyre, in the 12th century. It’s believed that Sir William’s paladins enjoyed Hazard during a blockade on the castle Hazarth in 1125 AD. The name Hazard was gotten from the castle’s name.
Early French colonists brought the game Hazard to Canada. In the 18th century, when banished by the English, the French moved south and settled in southern Louisiana where they a while later became known as Cajuns. When they left Acadia, they brought their preferred game, Hazard, with them. The Cajuns modernized the game and made it mathematically fair. It’s believed that the Cajuns changed the name to craps, which is acquired from the name of the losing toss of 2 in the game of Hazard, known as "crabs."
From Louisiana, the game migrated to the Mississippi barges and throughout the nation. A few think the dice maker John H. Winn as the founder of current craps. In the early 1900s, Winn designed the current craps setup. He added the Do not Pass line so gamblers could wager on the dice to lose. At another time, he created the spots for Place wagers and added the Big 6, Big 8, and Hardways.