Learn to Play Craps – Pointers and Strategies: The History of Craps
Be smart, play smart, and learn how to play craps the right way!
Games that use dice and the dice themselves goes back to the Crusades, but modern craps is only about a century old. Modern craps come about from the 12th Century English game referred to as Hazard. No one absolutely knows the ancestry of the game, although Hazard is believed to have been discovered by the Englishman, Sir William of Tyre, in the twelfth century. It is presumed that Sir William’s knights bet on Hazard during a blockade on the fortress Hazarth in 1125 AD. The name Hazard was derived from the castle’s name.
Early French colonists imported the game Hazard to Acadia. In the 18th century, when driven away by the English, the French headed down south and settled in southern Louisiana where they at a later time became Cajuns. When they fled Acadia, they brought their favored game, Hazard, along. The Cajuns streamlined the game and made it fair mathematically. It is believed that the Cajuns altered the title to craps, which was acquired from the term for the bad luck throw of two in the game of Hazard, known as "crabs."
From Louisiana, the game migrated to the Mississippi river boats and throughout the country. A few acknowledge the dice builder John H. Winn as the creator of current craps. In the early 1900s, Winn built the modern craps setup. He put in place the Do not Pass line so players could bet on the dice to not win. Afterwords, he designed the spots for Place wagers and put in place the Big 6, Big 8, and Hardways.