Learn to Play Craps – Hints and Strategies: The Background of Craps

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Be cunning, play clever, and pickup craps the ideal way!

Games that use dice and the dice themselves date back to the Crusades, but current craps is approximately one hundred years old. Modern craps evolved from the ancient Anglo game called Hazard. Nobody absolutely knows the ancestry of the game, although Hazard is said to have been invented by the Anglo, Sir William of Tyre, around the twelfth century. It is supposed that Sir William’s horsemen enjoyed Hazard during a siege on the fortification Hazarth in 1125 AD. The title Hazard was acquired from the citadel’s name.

Early French settlers brought the game Hazard to Canada. In the 1700s, when banished by the British, the French moved down south and discovered sanctuary in southern Louisiana where they eventually became known as Cajuns. When they left Acadia, they took their preferred game, Hazard, with them. The Cajuns streamlined the game and made it mathematically fair. It is believed that the Cajuns changed the name to craps, which is gotten from the name of the non-winning toss of snake-eyes in the game of Hazard, recognized as "crabs."

From Louisiana, the game migrated to the Mississippi river boats and all over the nation. A great many consider the dice maker John H. Winn as the founder of modern craps. In 1907, Winn assembled the modern craps layout. He added the Do not Pass line so players can bet on the dice to lose. Later, he developed the spots for Place bets and added the Big 6, Big 8, and Hardways.