Learn to Play Craps – Tips and Schemes: The Background of Craps
Be brilliant, play smart, and become versed in craps the correct way!
Games that use dice and the dice themselves goes all the way back to the Middle Eastern Crusades, but current craps is only about one hundred years old. Modern craps formed from the 12th Century Anglo game called Hazard. No one knows for certain the beginnings of the game, however Hazard is said to have been made up by the Englishman, Sir William of Tyre, around the 12th century. It is theorized that Sir William’s soldiers gambled on Hazard amid a blockade on the citadel Hazarth in 1125 AD. The name Hazard was derived from the castle’s name.
Early French settlers brought the game Hazard to Acadia. In the 1700s, when exiled by the English, the French headed down south and settled in southern Louisiana where they at a later time became known as Cajuns. When they left Acadia, they brought their preferred game, Hazard, along. The Cajuns streamlined the game and made it mathematically fair. It’s said that the Cajuns altered the title to craps, which is acquired from the name of the bad luck toss of two in the game of Hazard, recognized as "crabs."
From Louisiana, the game extended to the Mississippi scows and across the country. Many think the dice maker John H. Winn as the creator of modern craps. In the early 1900s, Winn assembled the modern craps layout. He put in place the Do not Pass line so gamblers could bet on the dice to lose. Later, he created the spaces for Place wagers and added the Big 6, Big 8, and Hardways.