Be clever, play smart, and discover how to play craps the proper way!
Games that use dice and the dice themselves date all the way back to the Crusades, but modern craps is just about a century old. Current craps come about from the old Anglo game called Hazard. Nobody absolutely knows the beginnings of the game, however Hazard is believed to have been discovered by the Anglo, Sir William of Tyre, sometime in the twelfth century. It’s theorized that Sir William’s paladins gambled on Hazard through a siege on the fortification Hazarth in 1125 AD. The title Hazard was acquired from the fortress’s name.
Early French settlers imported the game Hazard to Canada. In the 1700s, when driven away by the English, the French headed south and found refuge in the south of Louisiana where they at a later time became known as Cajuns. When they fled Acadia, they took their best-loved game, Hazard, with them. The Cajuns modernized the game and made it mathematically fair. It is said that the Cajuns adjusted the name to craps, which was acquired from the term for the bad luck toss of snake-eyes in the game of Hazard, recognized as "crabs."
From Louisiana, the game moved to the Mississippi barges and across the nation. A few consider the dice maker John H. Winn as the founder of current craps. In 1907, Winn assembled the current craps setup. He appended the Don’t Pass line so players can wager on the dice to lose. At another time, he established the spots for Place bets and added the Big 6, Big 8, and Hardways.