Learn to Play Craps – Tricks and Plans: The Background of Craps
Be cunning, play clever, and master craps the correct way!
Games that use dice and the dice themselves goes back to the Middle Eastern Crusades, but current craps is only about a century old. Current craps formed from the old Anglo game called Hazard. No one knows for sure the ancestry of the game, although Hazard is said to have been discovered by the Englishman, Sir William of Tyre, in the twelfth century. It is theorized that Sir William’s horsemen wagered on Hazard during a siege on the fortress Hazarth in 1125 AD. The title Hazard was derived from the citadel’s name.
Early French settlers imported the game Hazard to Acadia. In the 18th century, when displaced by the British, the French relocated down south and settled in the south of Louisiana where they at a later time became Cajuns. When they were driven out of Acadia, they took their favorite game, Hazard, along. The Cajuns broke down the game and made it mathematically fair. It’s said that the Cajuns changed the title to craps, which was gotten from the name of the bad luck toss of 2 in the game of Hazard, referred to as "crabs."
From Louisiana, the game migrated to the Mississippi riverboats and throughout the country. A good many consider the dice builder John H. Winn as the father of modern craps. In 1907, Winn created the modern craps layout. He put in place the Do not Pass line so gamblers could bet on the dice to lose. At another time, he established the boxes for Place wagers and put in place the Big 6, Big 8, and Hardways.