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Games that use dice and the dice themselves date back to the Crusades, but modern craps is approximately a century old. Modern craps evolved from the old Anglo game called Hazard. No one knows for certain the origin of the game, although Hazard is believed to have been made up by the Anglo, Sir William of Tyre, sometime in the twelfth century. It is presumed that Sir William’s soldiers bet on Hazard amid a siege on the fortress Hazarth in 1125 AD. The name Hazard was acquired from the fortress’s name.
Early French colonists brought the game Hazard to Acadia. In the 1700s, when exiled by the English, the French moved down south and located refuge in southern Louisiana where they eventually became Cajuns. When they left Acadia, they took their best-loved game, Hazard, with them. The Cajuns streamlined the game and made it mathematically fair. It’s said that the Cajuns adjusted the title to craps, which was derived from the term for the losing toss of 2 in the game of Hazard, recognized as "crabs."
From Louisiana, the game moved to the Mississippi scows and all over the nation. A great many consider the dice maker John H. Winn as the father of modern craps. In 1907, Winn created the modern craps setup. He appended the Don’t Pass line so players could wager on the dice to lose. At another time, he developed the boxes for Place wagers and added the Big 6, Big 8, and Hardways.
