Be clever, play smart, and discover how to play craps the right way!
Games that use dice and the dice themselves date back to the Crusades, but modern craps is only about 100 years old. Current craps come about from the 12th Century Anglo game called Hazard. No one knows for certain the birth of the game, however Hazard is said to have been discovered by the Englishman, Sir William of Tyre, around the 12th century. It’s supposed that Sir William’s soldiers enjoyed Hazard amid a siege on the citadel Hazarth in 1125 AD. The title Hazard was derived from the castle’s name.
Early French colonists imported the game Hazard to Acadia. In the 18th century, when banished by the English, the French headed down south and located refuge in the south of Louisiana where they eventually became known as Cajuns. When they departed Acadia, they took their preferred game, Hazard, along. The Cajuns simplified the game and made it more mathematically fair. It’s said that the Cajuns altered the name to craps, which is gotten from the name of the non-winning toss of two in the game of Hazard, known as "crabs."
From Louisiana, the game migrated to the Mississippi riverboats and throughout the country. A good many consider the dice maker John H. Winn as the father of modern craps. In 1907, Winn assembled the modern craps layout. He appended the Do not Pass line so players can wager on the dice to not win. Later, he established the boxes for Place bets and put in place the Big 6, Big 8, and Hardways.
