Master Craps – Tips and Tactics: The Background of Craps
Be cunning, play cunning, and master craps the correct way!
Dice and dice games date all the way back to the Crusades, but modern craps is just about one hundred years old. Modern craps come about from the 12th Century English game referred to as Hazard. No one absolutely knows the birth of the game, although Hazard is said to have been invented by the Anglo, Sir William of Tyre, around the 12th century. It is believed that Sir William’s soldiers bet on Hazard during a siege on the fortress Hazarth in 1125 AD. The name Hazard was gotten from the fortress’s name.
Early French colonists imported the game Hazard to Nova Scotia. In the 1700s, when displaced by the English, the French moved south and located safety in the south of Louisiana where they eventually became known as Cajuns. When they were driven out of Acadia, they brought their favorite game, Hazard, with them. The Cajuns modernized the game and made it more mathematically fair. It is believed that the Cajuns altered the name to craps, which is acquired from the term for the bad luck throw of snake-eyes in the game of Hazard, recognized as "crabs."
From Louisiana, the game migrated to the Mississippi barges and all over the nation. A good many acknowledge the dice builder John H. Winn as the father of modern craps. In 1907, Winn designed the current craps setup. He put in place the Do not Pass line so players could bet on the dice to lose. At another time, he designed the spots for Place bets and added the Big 6, Big 8, and Hardways.